Churchill's Quotes & Sayings

fierce tea making

in time of war, — Geoffrey Hill

My conclusion on Freewill and predestination- they are identical. — Winston S. Churchill

Football is only once a week. NASCAR is once a week. Those sports are insanely popular. Horse racing is oversaturated. Unless tracks cut back to three days a week of full fields, a lot of people will really hurt down the road. Horse racing, to survive, has to go to that. Let's face it: Churchill Downs only does well on Derby Week. — Rick Pitino

Amid increasing chaos, here lay the potential dominants. Much action and the play of forces even on a huge scale and with enormous material effects is often irrelevant, and counts for little or nothing in the final result: but along the chain of commanding causation even the smallest events are vital. It is these which should be studied and pondered over; for in them is revealed the profound significance of human choice and the sublime responsibility of men. No one can tell that he may not some day set a stone rolling or take or neglect some ordinary step which in its consequences will alter the history of the world. — Winston S. Churchill

In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet. — Winston S. Churchill

Not an hour is lost that is spent in the saddle. — Winston S. Churchill

The choice is between two ways of life: between individual liberty and State domination; between concentration of ownership in the hands of the State and the extension of ownership over the widest number of individuals; between the dead hand of monopoly and the stimulus of competition; between a policy of increasing restraint and a policy of liberating energy and ingenuity; between a policy of levelling down and a policy of opportunity for all to rise upwards from a basic standard. [WOLVERHAMPTON, 23 JULY 1949] — Winston S. Churchill

Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions. — Winston S. Churchill

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse. — Winston S. Churchill

The most frightful of all spectacles is the strength of the civilization without its mercy. — Winston S. Churchill

The truth deserves a bodyguard of lies. — Winston S. Churchill

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. — Winston S. Churchill

Around Whitehall, a sacking from Churchill was known as the 'awarding of the Order of the Boot. — Winston S. Churchill

Cold steel and discipline and the slight capital surplus necessary to move and organise armies constituted the sole defences. — Winston S. Churchill

The love of a foster mother for her charge appears absolutely irrational. — Winston S. Churchill

You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. She was meant to be wooed and won by youth. — Winston S. Churchill

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

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. — Winston S. Churchill

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
[On British Labour politician Stafford Cripps.] — Winston S. Churchill

In war what you don't dislike is not usually what the enemy does. — Winston S. Churchill

In War: Resolution,
In Defeat: Defiance,
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will. — Winston S. Churchill

A joke is a very serious thing. — Winston S. Churchill

If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future. — Winston S. Churchill

That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword - the tenets and principles of which are instinct with incentives to slaughter and which in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men - stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism. The love of plunder, always a characteristic of hill tribes, is fostered by the spectacle of opulence and luxury which, to their eyes, the cities and plains of the south display. A code of honour not less punctilious than that of old Spain is supported by vendettas as implacable as those of Corsica. — Winston S. Churchill

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. — Winston S. Churchill

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room. — Winston S. Churchill

In the first three months of actual fighting from the last week in August to the end of November, when the German drive against the Channel ports had come to an end and the first great invasion was definitely arrested, the French lost in killed, prisoners and wounded 854,0001 men. In — Winston S. Churchill

If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another. — Winston S. Churchill

Resposibility is the price of greatness. — Winston S. Churchill

There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at with no result. — Winston S. Churchill

I believe in market economics. But to paraphrase Churchill - who said this about democracy and political regimes - a market economy might be the worst economic regime available, apart from the alternatives. I believe that people react to incentives, that incentives matter, and that prices reflect the way things should be allocated. But I also believe that market economies sometimes have market failures, and when these occur, there's a role for prudential - not excessive - regulation of the financial system. — Nouriel Roubini

In contrast to this, it is not in our interest to abandon Constantinople to Russia and Bulgaria to Bolshevism. But even here it should be possible, with good intentions, to reach a solution which will avoid the worst and facilitate what we want. It will be easier to find a solution if Moscow is clear that nothing obliges us to accept an arrangement which is not satisfactory to us. — Winston S. Churchill

Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.
Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it. — Winston S. Churchill

Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage. — Winston S. Churchill

I think Churchill is right, the only thing to be said for democracy is that there is nothing else that's any better, and therefore he used to say, Tyranny tempered by assassination, but lots of assassination. People say, If the Congress were more representative of the people it would be better. I say the Congress is too damn representative. It's just as stupid as the people are; just as uneducated, just as dumb, just as selfish. — Dean Acheson

Israel was thinking of warm beer, and muffins, and Wensleydale cheese, and Wallace and Gromit, and the music of Elgar, and the Clash, and the Beatles, and Jarvis Cocker, and the white cliffs of Dover, and Big Bend, and the West End, and Stonehenge, and Alton Towers, and the Last Night of the Proms, and Glastonbury, and William Hogarth, and William Blake, and Just William, and Winston Churchill, and the North Circular Road, and Grodzinski's for coffee, and rubbish, and potholes, and a slice of Stilton and a pickled onion, and George Orwell. And Gloria, of course. He was almost home to Gloria. G-L-O-R-I-A. — Ian Sansom

Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an ever smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose — Winston S. Churchill

But Governments and peoples do not always take rational decisions. Sometimes they take mad decisions, or one set of people get control who compel all others to obey and aid them in folly. — Winston S. Churchill

There is always something wrong with redheads. The hair is kinky, or it's the wrong color, too dark and tough, or too pale and sickly. And the skin - it rejects the elements: wind, sun, everything discolors it. A really beautiful redhead is rarer than a flawless forty-carat pigeon-blood ruby - or a flawed one, for that matter. But none of this was true of Kate. Her hair was like a winter sunset, lighted with the last of the pale afterglow. And the only redhead I've ever seen with a complexion to compare with hers was Pamela Churchill's. But then, Pam is English, she grew up saturated with dewy English mists, something every dermatologist ought to bottle. — Truman Capote

Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash. — Winston S. Churchill

To be sure, Kennedy did not discount the importance of words in rallying the nation to meet its foreign and domestic challenges. Winston Churchill's powerful exhortations during World War II set a standard he had long admired. Kennedy was hardly unmindful of how important a great inaugural address could be. — Robert Dallek

By swallowing evil word unsaid noone has ever yet harmed his stomach. — Winston S. Churchill

Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is
the strong horse that pulls the whole cart. — Winston S. Churchill

It was their own offensive, not ours, that consummated their ruin. They were worn down not by Joffre, Nivelle and Haig, but by Ludendorff. See — Winston S. Churchill

The conquest was not achieved without one frightful convulsion of revolt. "In this year A.D. 61", according to Tacitus, "a severe disaster was sustained in Britain." Suetonius, the new governor, had engaged himself deeply in the West. He transferred the operational base of the Roman army to Chester. Because it was the centre of Druid resistance he prepared to attack "the populous island of Mona [Anglesey], which had become a refuge for fugitives, and he built a fleet of flat-bottomed vessels suitable for those shallow and shifting seas. The infantry crossed in the boats, the cavalry went over by fords: where the water was too deep the men swam alongside of their horses. The enemy lined the shore, a dense host of armed men, interspersed with women clad in black like the Furies, with their hair hanging down and holding torches in their hands. Round this were Druids — Winston S. Churchill

The British nation is unique in this respect: they are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst. — Winston S. Churchill

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip. — Winston S. Churchill

When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people. — Gretchen Rubin

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

We build dwellings and thereafter they build us. — Winston S. Churchill

Later these tales would be retold and embellished by the genius of Mallory, Spenser, and Tennyson. — Winston S. Churchill

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber. — Winston S. Churchill

Drake was finishing his game of bowls; — Winston S. Churchill

There are men in the world who derive as stern an exaltation from the proximity of disaster and ruin, as others from success. — Winston S. Churchill

Go out into the sunlight and be happy with what you see. — Winston S. Churchill

Action This Day. — Winston S. Churchill

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. — Winston S. Churchill

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. — Winston S. Churchill

The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure. — Winston Churchill

The only instance where five purely-negative words had had a highly positive, motivational impact are Winston Churchill's, Never, Never, Never, Never Give-up. — Nabil N. Jamal

The day must come when the nation's whole scale of living must be reduced. If that day comes,Parliament must lay the burden equally on all classes. — Lord Randolph Churchill

Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have. — Winston Churchill

Most of the world's work is done by people who don't feel very well. — Winston Churchill

Like most people, I have several pet subjects - that may or may not be interesting to other people. Don't get me started on happiness, or habits, or children's literature, or Winston Churchill, unless you really want to talk about it. — Gretchen Rubin

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. — Winston S. Churchill

My education was interrupted only by my schooling. — Winston S. Churchill

Nations that went down fighting rose again, but those who surrendered tamely were finished. — Winston S. Churchill

One evening at Chequers the film was Oliver Twist. Rufus, as usual, had the best seat in the house, on his master's lap. At the point when Bill Sikes was about to drown his dog to put the police off his track, Churchill covered Rufus's eyes with his hand. He said, "Don't look now, dear. I'll tell you about it afterwards." — Winston Churchill

There's always merit to having a debate. — Ward Churchill

In one respect a cavalry charge is very like ordinary life. So long as you are all right, firmly in your saddle, your horse in hand, and well armed, lots of enemies will give you a wide berth. But as soon as you have lost a stirrup, have a rein cut, have dropped your weapon, are wounded, or your horse is wounded, then is the moment when from all quarters enemies rush upon you. Such — Winston S. Churchill

The strategic aspect of General Joffre's policy was not less stultified than the administrative. The easterly and north-easterly attacks into which his four Armies of the Right and Centre were impetuously launched, were immediately stopped and hurled back with a slaughter so frightful that it has never yet been comprehended by the world. His — Winston S. Churchill

If we don't end war, war will end us. — Winston S. Churchill

But no parties could live under such labels as Petitioners and Abhorrers. Instead of naming themselves they named each other. The term "Whig" had described a sour, bigoted, canting, money-grubbing Scots Presbyterian. Irish Papist bandits ravaging estates and manor-houses had been called "Tories." Neither — Winston S. Churchill

There is a kind of intolerant spirit now abroad which arises out of the growing power of party and other machinery - a spirit which resents individual opinion, which clamours for uniformity and political Test Acts. — Winston S. Churchill

Aryans?" I asked, thinking I must have heard the word incorrectly.
Christian and Allie nodded.
"Aryans as in white supremacist, those sorts of Aryans?"
"Yes," Christian said.
"Neo-Nazis?" My mind was having a hard time grasping the idea of a power-hungry vampire leading an army of Hitler's Youth. "Skinheads and their ilk?"
"Hasi, what is it you find so unbelievable?" Adrian asked, a smile in his voice.
"Oh, I don't know. I guess I just expected that any army Saer raised would be ... you know ... the evil undead." Everyone just looked at me. "Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. Neo-Nazis are more or less the evil undead. Right. So we have Saer about to attack at any moment with a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis. Great. Anyone here do a really good Winston Churchill impression? — Katie MacAlister

The behavior of the crowd at Churchill Downs is like 100,000 vicious Hyenas going berserk all at once in a space about the size of a 777 jet or the White House lawn. — Hunter S. Thompson

The maxim "Nothing avails but perfection" may be spelt p-a-r-a-l-y-s-i-s — Winston S. Churchill

'Foyle's War' made me realise that Churchill actually had questionable morals; his decisions meant that good people died. It must have weighed heavily on his soul, but he never let his personal demons get in the way of what was best for our country. — Honeysuckle Weeks

To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day. — Winston S. Churchill

Good and great are seldom in the same man. — Winston S. Churchill

It helps to write down half a dozen things which are worrying me. Two of them, say, disappear; about two of them nothing can be done, so it's no use worrying; and two perhaps can be settled. — Winston Churchill

Ah, horrible war, amazing medley of the glorious and the squalid, the pitiful and the sublime, if modern men of light and leading saw your face closer, simple folk would see it hardly ever. — Winston S. Churchill

If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce. — Winston S. Churchill

I had a feeling once about Mathematics - that I saw it all. Depth beyond depth was revealed to me - the Byss and Abyss. I saw - as one might see the transit of Venus or even the Lord Mayor's Show - a quantity passing through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly why it happened and why the tergiversation was inevitable but it was after dinner and I let it go. — Winston S. Churchill

Winston Churchill once said, "If you want to destroy them, distract them." And that's exactly what our adversary does; he distracts us completely from the greater cause, which is to pull together so we might know Christ and make Him known. Second — Darlene Zschech

Let it never be said that you crept into the crypt, crapped, and crept out again. — Winston S. Churchill

Hitler is a monster of wickedness, insatiable in his lust for blood and plunder. Not content with having all Europe under his heel, or else terrorized into various forms of abject submission, he must now carry his work of butchery and desolation among the vast multitudes of Russia and of Asia. The terrible military machine, which we and the rest of the civilized world so foolishly, so supinely, so insensately allowed the Nazi gangsters to build up year by year from almost nothing, cannot stand idle lest it rust or fall to pieces. It must be in continual motion, grinding up human lives and trampling down the homes and the rights of hundreds of millions of men. Moreover it must be fed, not only with flesh but with oil. — Winston S. Churchill

During their lifetimes, every man and woman will stumble across a great opportunity. Sadly, most of them will simply pick themselves up, dust themselves down and carry on as if nothing ever happened. — Winston S. Churchill

There survives somewhere or other an interesting controversy which took place between Wells and Churchill at the time of the Russian Revolution. Wells accuses Churchill of not really believing his own propaganda about the Bolsheviks being monsters dripping with blood, etc., but of merely fearing that they were going to introduce an era of common sense and scientific control, in which flag-wavers like Churchill himself would have no place. Churchill's estimate of the Bolsheviks, however, was nearer the mark than Wells's. — George Orwell

Safari, so goody. — Winston S. Churchill

To Admiral Cunningham it was against all tradition to abandon the Army in such a crisis. He declared, It takes the Navy three years to build a new ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. — Winston S. Churchill

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. — Winston S. Churchill

After a burglary of all her most valued and treasured possessions, Winston Churchill's aging mother wrote: "That burglar relieved me of an obsession. For years, I've had to take houses big enough to hold all these bibelots. I am almost grateful to him." — Anne Sebba

Let me see a complete reorganization of the North Atlantic fleet's defensive strategy against Nazi U-boats. And if it won't go on one side of one sheet of paper, it hasn't been properly thought out - Winston Churchill. — Patrick Robinson

I always avoid prophesying beforehand because it is much better to prophesy after the event has already taken place. — Winston S. Churchill

The foundation of the Germanic system was blood and kin. — Winston S. Churchill

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law. — Winston S. Churchill

Don't interrupt me while I'm interrupting. — Winston S. Churchill

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. — Winston S. Churchill

I suppose the Party machinery will carry everything before it, and, as heretofore, the Extremists on both sides, whether progressive or reactionary, will set the tune and collar the organization, and all we wretched, unorganized middle thinkers will either be destroyed between the contending forces, or compelled to serve in support of one disproportionate cause or the other. — Winston S. Churchill