Winston Churchill Quotes & Sayings

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent. — Winston Churchill

It is hard, if not impossible, to snub a beautiful woman - they remain beautiful and the snub recoils. — Winston Churchill

Thus I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence, which is a noble thing. — Winston Churchill

Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat. — Winston Churchill

The question which we must ask ourselves is not whether we like or do not like what is going on, but what we are going to do about it. — Winston Churchill

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement. — Winston Churchill

There is no surer method of economizing and saving money than in the reduction of the number of officials. — Winston Churchill

Americans are a wonderful people: They will always do the right thing
after exhausting every other possible alternative. — Winston Churchill

The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. — Winston Churchill

The Turkish Government began and ruthlessly carried out the infamous massacre and deportation of Armenians in Asia Minor. The clearance of the race from Asia Minor was about as complete as such an act, on a scale so great, could well be. — Winston Churchill

One ought to be just before one is generous — Winston Churchill

A pessimist sees problems in opportunities whereas an optimist sees opportunities in problems. — Winston Churchill

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting. — Winston Churchill

I am in favor of deliberately spreading methodically prepared bacteria among people and animals
mildew ... to destroy the harvests, anthrax to destroy horses and livestock, and the plague, in order to kill not only entire armies, but also the inhabitants of large regions. — Winston Churchill

Building slow destroyers ! One might as well breed slow race horses. — Winston Churchill

It is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future. Still, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will for their own safety and for the good of all walk together side by side in majesty, in justice, and in peace. — Winston Churchill

Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat. — Winston Churchill

Talking death seriously is one of the tragedies of youth — Winston Churchill

You ought to let the Jews have Jerusalem; it was they who made it famous. — Winston Churchill

Just to paint is great fun ... Try it if you have not done so - before you die. — Winston Churchill

The truth is heavy, therefore few care to carry it. — Winston Churchill

If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty, you have no brain. — Winston Churchill

Keep buggering on.... — Winston Churchill

Never, ever ever ever ever give up. — Winston Churchill

It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them. — Winston Churchill

This wicked man Hitler, the repository and embodiment of many forms of soul-destroying hatred. this monstrous product of former wrongs and shame. — Winston Churchill

Let us make sure that the supreme fact of the 20th century is that they tread the same path. — Winston Churchill

Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime ministers have never yet been invested. — Winston Churchill

Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record. — Winston Churchill

Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all. — Winston Churchill

I have found in my experience of war, that plans are useless, but planning is invaluable. — Winston Churchill

English literature is a glorious inheritance which is open to all - there are no barriers, no coupons, and no restrictions. In the English language and in its great writers there are great riches and treasures, of which, of course, the Bible and Shakespeare stand along on the highest platform. — Winston Churchill

At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper-no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of the point. — Winston Churchill

And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning. — Winston Churchill

Nobody ever launched an attack without having misgivings beforehand, You ought to have misgivings before; but when the moment of action is come, the hour of misgivings is passed. It is often not possible to go backward from a course which has been adopted in war. A man must answer "Aye" or "No" to the great questions which are put, and by that decision he must be bound. — Winston Churchill

I did not like the man [Niels Bohr] when you showed him to me, with his hair all overhis head ... — Winston Churchill

The stations of uncensored expression are closing down; the lights are going out; but there is still time for those to whom freedom and parliamentary government mean something, to consult together. Let me, then, speak in truth and earnestness while time remains. — Winston Churchill

Nothing should be done for spite's sake. — Winston Churchill

Politics is more dangerous than war, for in war you are only killed once. — Winston Churchill

No sky is heavy if the heart be light — Winston Churchill

He has the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thoughts. — Winston Churchill

Victory is not final. Defeat is not failure. It's all about courage. — Winston Churchill

I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form. — Winston Churchill

Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners. — Winston Churchill

There is no sphere of human thought in which it is easier to show superficial cleverness and the appearance of superior wisdom than in discussing questions of currency and exchange — Winston Churchill

Victory is the beautiful, bright-colored flower. Transport is the stem without which it could never have blossomed. — Winston Churchill

Advertising mourishes the consuming power of men. It sets up before a man the goal of a better home, better clothing, better food for himself and his family. It spurs individual exertion and greater production. — Winston Churchill

Watch your habits, they determine your character. — Winston Churchill

The eagle has ceased to scream, but the parrots will now begin to chatter. The war of the giants is over and the pigmies will now start to squabble. — Winston Churchill

I think it would be so much better for me to learn something which would be useful to me in the army, as well as affording me exercise and amusement. — Winston Churchill

Any idiot can see something wrong. But can you see what is right? — Winston Churchill

Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even should they rarely stick to their plan. — Winston Churchill

Nowadays we are assailed by a chorus of horrid threats. The Nazi government exudes through every neutral state inside information about the frightful vengeance they are going to wreak upon us, and they also bawl it around the world by their propaganda machinery. If words could kill, we shall be dead already. — Winston Churchill

The Government of India had imprisoned Mr. Gandhi and they had been sitting outside his cell door begging him to help them out of their difficulties. — Winston Churchill

Things don't happen to me. I happen to things! — Winston Churchill

I am sorry to have made such a long speech, but I did not have time to write a shorter one. — Winston Churchill

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill

Thus, be every device from the stick to the carrot, the emaciated Austrian donkey is made to pull the Nazi barrow up an ever-steepening hill. — Winston Churchill

War is mainly a catalogue of blunders. — Winston Churchill

If you find a job you love, you'll never work again ... — Winston Churchill

To win by one is enough. — Winston Churchill

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill

Without execution, thinking is mere idleness. — Winston Churchill

Gentleman, I am hardening on this enterprise. I repeat, I am now hardening towards this enterprise. — Winston Churchill

The tired parts of the mind can be rested and strengthened not merely by rest, but by using other parts. — Winston Churchill

I am not sure I should have dared to start; but I am sure that I should not have dared to stop. — Winston Churchill

When I find a ladybug I ask the butler to take it outside instead of killing it. — Winston Churchill

Those who serve supreme causes must not consider what they can get but what they can give. — Winston Churchill

It is not always possible to have everything go as one likes. In working with allies, it sometimes happens that they develop opinions of their own — Winston Churchill

The world, nature, human beings, do not move like machines. The edges are never clear-cut, but always frayed. Nature never draws a line without smudging it. — Winston Churchill

A nation that fails to honor its heroes, soon will have no heroes to honor ... — Winston Churchill

A love of tradition has never weakened a nation ... — Winston Churchill

I am weary of a task which is done and I hope I shall not shrink when the aftermath ends. My only wish is to live peacefully out the remaining years - if years they be. — Winston Churchill

Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety, and variety alone. — Winston Churchill

I would tell myself that I was about to address the largest mass assembly of idiots ever gathered in the history of mankind. — Winston Churchill

The future is unknowable, but the past should give us hope. — Winston Churchill

We sit in calm, airy, silent rooms opening upon sunlit and embowered lawns, not a sound except of summer and of husbandry disturbs the peace; but seven million men, any ten thousand of whom could have annihilated the ancient armies, are in ceaseless battle from the Alps to the Ocean. — Winston Churchill

Like other systems in decay, the Roman Empire continued to function for several generations after its vitality was sapped. For nearly a hundred years our Island was one of the scenes of conflict between a dying civilisation and lusty, famishing barbarism. — Winston Churchill

Without ships, we cannot live. — Winston Churchill

With integrity, nothing else counts. Without integrity, nothing else counts. — Winston Churchill

Here Churchill repeats with approval a statement he had first made in January, 1930 "at a meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel." "Sooner or later you will have to crush Gandhi and the Indian Congress and all they stand for." — Winston Churchill

Expert knowledge is limited knowledge — Winston Churchill

The worst mistake that a statesman can make is to promise victory and to see it dashed, the hopes dashed. — Winston Churchill

Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre & men of straw. They will have sweet tongues & silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power & India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air & water would be taxed in India. — Winston Churchill

War is horrible, but slavery is worse. — Winston Churchill

To improve is to change. — Winston Churchill

You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves. — Winston Churchill

Oh, what is the matter with poor Puggy-Wug? Pet him and kiss him and give him a hug. Run and fetch him a suitable drug. Wrap him up tenderly all in a rug. That is the way to cure Puggy-Wug. — Winston Churchill

I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place. — Winston Churchill

I feel like an aeroplane at the end of its flight, in the dusk, with the petrol running out, in search of a safe landing. — Winston Churchill

The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the future of Christian civilization. — Winston Churchill

Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice. — Winston Churchill

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult. — Winston Churchill

You can always rely on America to do the right thing
once it has exhausted the alternatives. — Winston Churchill

The object of Parliament is to substitute argument for fisticuffs. — Winston Churchill

Who is not liberal when young, does not have a heart. Who is not conservative when old, does not have a brain. — Winston Churchill

When we run out of money, we have to start thinking. — Winston Churchill

Everyone threw the blame on me ... they nearly always do. I suppose ... they think I shall be able to bear it best. — Winston Churchill

My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto. — Winston Churchill

I am sure that the mistakes of that time will not be repeated; we should probably make another set of mistakes. — Winston Churchill