Life Churchill Quotes & Sayings

In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might. — Winston S. Churchill

My heart has always leaned towards England, and with the close friendship of Winston [Churchill], the hero who brought hope to the world, I could not imagine a happier life for myself. — Coco Chanel

I now began for the first time to envy those young cubs at the university who had fine scholars to tell them what was what; professors who had devoted their lives to mastering and focusing ideas in every branch of learning; who were eager to distribute the treasures they had gathered before they were overtaken by the night. But now I pity undergraduates, when I see what frivolous lives many of them lead in the midst of precious fleeting opportunity. After all, a man's Life must be nailed to a cross either of Thought or Action. Without work there is no play. — Winston Churchill

Bloodshed, gentlemen, no doubt is lamentable. I have seen some of it
more perhaps than many of those who talk about it with such levity. But there are worse things than bloodshed, even on an extreme scale ... The trampling down of law and order which, under the conditions of a civilised state, assure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
all this would be worse than bloodshed. — Winston S. Churchill

I have in my life concentrated more on self-expression than self-denial. — Winston Churchill

Here life itself, life at its best and healthiest, awaits the caprice of the bullet. Let us see the development of the day. All else may stand over, perhaps for ever. Existence is never so sweet as when it is at hazard. — Winston 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

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

My mother made a brilliant impression upon my childhood life. She shone for me like the evening star. — Winston Churchill

We make a living by what we get and make a life by what we give. — Winston S. Churchill

To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour. — Winston S. Churchill

The is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has it exceptions. — Winston Churchill

There are few words which are used more loosely than the word "Civilization." What does it mean? It means a society based upon the opinion of civilians. It means that violence, the rule of warriors and despotic chiefs, the conditions of camps and warfare, of riot and tyranny, give place to parliaments where laws are made, and independent courts of justice in which over long periods those laws are maintained. That is Civilization - and in its soil grow continually freedom, comfort, and culture. When Civilization reigns, in any country, a wider and less harassed life is afforded to the masses of the people. The traditions of the past are cherished, and the inheritance bequeathed to us by former wise or valiant men becomes a rich estate to be enjoyed and used by all. — Winston S. Churchill

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result. — Winston S. Churchill

Maybe he should have kept quiet about if he knew they couldn't stand it.
Is that what you do? — Caryl Churchill

The true guide of life is to do what is right. — Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill, today an idealized hero of history, was in his time variously considered a bombastic blunderer, an unstable politician, an intermittently inspired orator, a reckless self-dramatizer, a voluminous able writer in an old-fashioned vein, and a warmongering drunkard. Through most of his long life he cut an antic, brilliant, occasionally absurd figure in British affairs. He never won the trust of the people until 1940, when he was sixty-six years old, and — Herman Wouk

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. — Winston Churchill

Failure should never go to heart and success should never go to head, both makes a person to fall in life. — Winston Churchill

May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. — Winston Churchill

It is indeed strange, given the heavy emphasis placed by chroniclers on Churchill's sheer magnitude of personality, that the ingredient of pure ambition should be so much ignored or even disallowed. — Christopher Hitchens

I was myself so smitten in public opinion that it was the almost universal view that my political life was at last ended. — Winston S. Churchill

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

History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. What is the worth of all this? The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor. — Winston S. Churchill

872, Ivar, King of the Northmen of all Ireland and Britain , ended his life." He had conquered Mercia and East Anglia. He had captured the major stronghold of the kingdom of Strathclyde, Dumbarton. Laden with loot and seemingly invincible, he settled in Dublin and died there peacefully two years later. The pious chroniclers report that he "slept in Christ." Thus it may be that he had the best of both worlds. — Winston Churchill

No socialist government conducting the entire life and industry of the country could afford to allow free, sharp or violently worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanly directed in the first instance. — Winston Churchill

It so often happens that, when men are convinced that they have to die, a desire to bear themselves well and to leave life's stage with dignity conquers all other sensations. — Winston Churchill

Mr Churchill, to what do you attribute your success in life?
Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down. And never sit down when you can lie down. — Winston S. Churchill

Ever since her being turned into a Churchill, she has out-Churchill'd them all in high and mighty claims. — Jane Austen

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

Satire, whilst envy and ill-humor sway
The mind of man, must always make her way;
Nor to a bosom, with discretion fraught,
Is all her malice worth a single thought.
The wise have not the will, nor fools the power,
To stop her headstrong course; within the hour
Left to herself, she dies; opposing strife
Gives her fresh vigor, and prolongs her life. — Charles Churchill

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give. — Winston S. Churchill

The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time. But the soul of man thus held in trance, or frozen in a long night, can be awakened by a spark coming from God knows where, and in a moment the whole structure of lies and oppression is on trial for its life. — Winston S. Churchill

We shall see how the counsels of prudence and restraint may become the prime agents of mortal danger; how the middle course adopted from desires for safety and a quiet life may be found to lead direct to the bull's-eye of disaster. — Winston S. Churchill

Winston Churchill led the life that many men would love to live. He survived 50 gunfights and drank 20,000 bottles of champagne ... And of course, by resisting Hitler, he saved Europe and perhaps the world. — Mark Riebling

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. — Winston S. Churchill

No Socialist system can be established without a political police. Many of those who are advocating Socialism or voting Socialist today will be horrified at this idea. That is because they are short-sighted, that is because they do not see where their theories are leading them. No Socialist Government conducting the entire life and industry of the country could afford to allow free, sharp, or violently-worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance. And this would nip opinion in the bud; it would stop criticism as it reared its head, and it would gather all the power to the supreme party and the party leaders, rising like stately pinnacles above their vast bureaucracies of Civil servants, no longer servants and no longer civil. — Winston S. Churchill

When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened — Winston S. Churchill

There comes a special moment in everyone's life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission - a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he will find greatness. It is his finest hour. — Winston Churchill

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

Churchill strikes a note in my life because my father worked on Mulberry Harbour, which was the code name for the temporary concrete harbours which were towed across the Channel to make the D-day landings in France possible. — Ridley Scott

Mr. Churchill, sir, to what do you attribute your success in life?" Without pause or hesitation, he replied: "Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down." He — Paul Johnson

The trade unions are a long-established and essential part of our national life. We take our stand by these pillars of our British society as it has gradually developed and evolved itself, of the right of individual labouring men to adjust their wages and conditions by collective bargaining, including the right to strike. — Winston Churchill

To all of us comes that moment in life when we are literally tapped on the shoulder to do a very special thing unique to ourselves and our talents. What a pity if that moment finds us unprepared. — Winston S. Churchill

A man must choose his own way of life, and ... it is only by following out one's own bent that there can be the really harmonious life.
[In an interview conducted by Bram Stoker] — Winston S. Churchill

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed ... why should we fear for our future? — Winston S. Churchill

How little can we foresee the consequences either of wise or unwise action, of virtue or of malice. Without this measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed. — Winston Churchill

If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything. — Winston Churchill

It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuits - like becoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying through the stratosphere, or landing on the moon. First-rate pursuits - involving, as they must, trying to understand what life is about and trying to convey that understanding - inevitably result in a sense of failure. A Napoleon, a Churchill, or a Roosevelt can feel himself to be successful, but never a Socrates, a Pascal, or a Blake. Understanding is forever unattainable. — Malcolm Muggeridge

The vistas of possibility are only limited by the shortness of life. — Winston Churchill

From what we get in life, we make a living. From what we give, we make a life. — Winston Churchill

Old Age, a second child, by nature curst
With more and greater evils than the first,
Weak, sickly, full of pains: in ev'ry breath
Railing at life, and yet afraid of death. — Charles Churchill

The element of the unexpected and the unforeseeable is what gives some of its relish to life and saves us from falling into the mechanical thralldom of the logicians. — Winston Churchill

... the garden gleams with summer jewelry. We live vy simply - but with all the essentials of life well understood & well provided for - hot baths, cold champagne, new peas, & old brandy. — Winston S. Churchill

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

After all, a man's Life must be nailed to a cross either of Thought or Action. Without work there is no play. When I am in the Socratic — Winston S. Churchill

There comes into the life of every man a task for which he and he alone is uniquely suited. What a shame if that moment finds him either unwilling or unprepared for that which would become his finest hour. — Winston Churchill

You haven't learned life's lesson very well if you haven't noticed that you can give the tone or colour, or decide the reaction you want of people in advance. It's unbelievable simply. If you want them to take an interest in you, take an interest in them first. If you want to make them nervous, become nervous yourself ... It's as simple as that. People will treat you as you treat them. It's no secret. Look about you. You can prove it with the next person you meet. — Winston Churchill

I declare to you, from the bottom of my heart, that no Socialist system can be established without a political police ... No Socialist Government conducting the entire life and industry of the country could afford to allow free, sharp, or violently-worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance. — Winston S. Churchill

I had no idea of the enormous and unquestionably helpful part that humbug plays in the social life of great peoples dwelling in a state of democratic freedom. — Winston 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

How I hated schools, and what a life of anxiety I lived there. I counted the hours to the end of every term, when I should return home. — Winston Churchill

How I hated this school, and what a life of anxiety I lived there for more than two years. — Winston Churchill

We get to make a living; we give to make a life. — Winston Churchill

A short, glorious life in service of a greater good - say, the life of the Spartans at Thermopylae, or the pilots in the Battle of Britain, of whom Winston Churchill said 'Never have so many owed so much to so few,' - that is worth praising. But for glory alone? I think not. — Tim O'Reilly

We, in short, propose to tax luxuries, monopolies, and superfluities, but we scrupulously avoid taxing the necessaries of life. — Winston S. Churchill

I suppose you have heard of the handsome letter Mr. Frank Churchill had written to Mrs. Weston? I understand it was a very handsome letter, indeed. Mr. Woodhouse told me of it. Mr. Woodhouse saw the letter, and he says he never saw such a handsome letter in his life. — Jane Austen

For those who dream
Life can be
An Epic Adventure! — Marilyn Churchill

You're pretending this isn't your life. You think it's going to happen some other time. When you're dead you'll realise you were alive now. — Caryl Churchill

Life means work, and hard work, if you mean to succeed. — Lady Randolph Churchill

My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them. — Winston Churchill

A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life. — Winston Churchill

For the first 25 years of my life, I wanted freedom. For the next 25 years, I wanted order. For the next 25 years, I realized that order is freedom. — Winston Churchill

Life is a test and this world a place of trial. Always the problems - or it may be the same problem - will be presented to every generation in different forms. — Winston Churchill

Painting is a companion with whom one may walk a great part of life's journey. — Winston Churchill

Churchill used words for different purposes: to argue for moral and political causes, to advocate courses of action in the social, national and international spheres, and to tell the story of his own life and that of Britain and its place in the world. — Winston S. Churchill

One must never forget when misfortunes come that it is quite possible they are saving one from something much worse; or that when you make some great mistake, it may very easily serve you better than the best-advised decision. Life is a whole, and luck is a whole, and no part of them can be separated from the rest. — Winston S. Churchill

My greatest good fortune in a life of brilliant experiences has been to find you, and to lead my life with you. I don't feel far away from you out here at all. I feel very near in my heart; and also I feel that the nearer I get to honour, the nearer I am to you. — Winston Churchill

The vicissitudes of life resemble one of those gilded balls seen in a fountain. Thrown up by the force of the water, it flies up and down - now at the top, catching the rays of the sun, now cast into the depths, then again shooting up, sometimes so high that it escapes altogether, and falls to the ground. — Lady Randolph Churchill

What shall I do with all my books?' was the question, and the answer, 'Read them,' sobered the questioner. But if you cannot read them, at the very least handle them and, as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open as they will. Read on from the first sentence that turns the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. Set them back on their shelves with your own hands. Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition. — Winston S. Churchill

The game of life does not proceed like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes they make five, or minus four, and sometimes the blackboard topples over in the middle of the sum and the pedagogue is left with a black eye. — Winston S. Churchill

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. — Winston S. Churchill

How often in life must one be content with what one can get! — Winston Churchill

Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut. — Winston S. Churchill

Personal initiative, competitive selection, the profit motive, corrected by failure and the infinite process of good housekeeping and the personal ingenuity-here constitute the life of a free society. — Winston Churchill

There was a man who sold a hyena skin while the beast still lived and who was killed in hunting it. — Winston Churchill

No one ever finds life worth living - one has to make it worth living. — Winston Churchill

The way to achieve happiness is to try for perfection that is impossible to achieve, and spend the rest of your life trying to achieve it. — Winston S. Churchill

Today I may way before an awestruck world; I am still master of my fate. I am still captain of my soul. — Winston Churchill

Success in life is the ability to move from one mistake to another without loosing enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill

Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted. — Winston Churchill

When satire flies abroad on falsehood's wing, Short is her life, and impotent her sting; But when to truth allied, the wound she gives Sinks deep, and to remotest ages lives. — Charles Churchill

It was my ambition all of my life to be master of the spoken word. — Winston Churchill

This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning. — Winston S. Churchill

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. — Winston S. Churchill

I was fed up with the situation I found myself in in the 1960s. I didn't like being a barrister's wife and going out to dinner with other professional people and dealing with middle class life. It seemed claustrophobic. — Caryl Churchill

We are not meant to find peace in this world. The spirit of life cannot exist without effort. Destroy the rivalries of man and nations and you will have destroyed all that makes for betterment and progress on Earth. — Winston Churchill

Dad always said a person must have a magnificent reason for writing out his or her Life Story and expecting anyone to read it.
Unless your name is something along the lines of Mozart, Matisse, Churchill, Che Guevara or Bond - James Bond - you best spent your free time finger painting or playing shuffeboard, for no one, with the exception of your flabby-armed mother with stiff hair and a mashed potato way of looking at you, will want to hear the particulars of your pitiable existence, which doubtlessly will end as it began - with a wheeze. — Marisha Pessl

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes. — Winston S. Churchill

Life is not always not always what one wants it to be., but to make the best of it as it is the only way of being happy. — Lady Randolph Churchill