Churchill, Winston quotes
1874-1965 British Statesman Prime MinisterI am ready to meet my maker, but whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Churchill, Winston
Death and Dying
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile -- hoping it will eat him last.
Churchill, Winston
Compromise
The English never draw a line without blurring it.
Churchill, Winston
Compromise
The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
Churchill, Winston
Contradiction
The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.
Churchill, Winston
Dogs
It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.
Churchill, Winston
Charity
When I am abroad, I always make it a rule to never criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.
Churchill, Winston
Critics and Criticism
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.
Churchill, Winston
Character
There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right.
Churchill, Winston
Conscience
They are decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.
Churchill, Winston
Decisions
Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality.
Churchill, Winston
Communism and Socialism
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.
Churchill, Winston
Difficulties
The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.
Churchill, Winston
Defeat
The substance of the eminent Socialist gentlemen s speech is that making a profit is a sin. It is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss!
Churchill, Winston
Communism and Socialism
Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.
Churchill, Winston
Business
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Churchill, Winston
Communism and Socialism
It has been said that Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
Churchill, Winston
Democracy
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount.
Churchill, Winston
Dictators and Dictatorship
Socialists think profits are a vice; I consider losses the real vice.
Churchill, Winston
Communism and Socialism
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.
Churchill, Winston
Democracy
For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.
Churchill, Winston
History and Historians
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.
Churchill, Winston
Government
We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.
Churchill, Winston
Home
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Churchill, Winston
Heroes and Heroism
If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire.
Churchill, Winston
God
It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.
Churchill, Winston
Honesty
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
Churchill, Winston
Genius
From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
Churchill, Winston
Grammar
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.
Churchill, Winston
Heroes and Heroism
A fanatic is one who can t change his mind and won t change the subject.
Churchill, Winston
Fanatics and Fanaticism
All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.
Churchill, Winston
Mistakes
Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.
Churchill, Winston
Golf
No comment is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.
Churchill, Winston
Expression
It is better to be frightened now than killed hereafter
Churchill, Winston
Fear
Great and good are seldom the same man.
Churchill, Winston
Greatness
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Churchill, Winston
Greatness
I have never accepted what many people have kindly said-namely that I inspired the nation. Their will was resolute and remorseless, and as it proved, unconquerable. It fell to me to express it.
Churchill, Winston
Expression
Logic is a poor guide compared with custom.
Churchill, Winston
Logic
Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.
Churchill, Winston
Humankind
The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.
Churchill, Winston
Leaders and Leadership
He is a modest little man who has a good deal to be modest about.
Churchill, Winston
Modesty
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
Churchill, Winston
Life and Living
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.
Churchill, Winston
Ideals and Idealism
The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.
Churchill, Winston
Justice
There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
Churchill, Winston
Lies and Lying
Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
Churchill, Winston
Intentions
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it.
Churchill, Winston
Knowledge
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
Churchill, Winston
Humankind
Personally, I m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Churchill, Winston
Learning
I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion s roar.
Churchill, Winston
Leaders and Leadership
Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.
Churchill, Winston
Nuclear Age
In war you can be killed only once. In politics, many times.
Churchill, Winston
Politicians and Politics
Politicians have the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterward to explain why it didn t happen.
Churchill, Winston
Politicians and Politics
Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
Churchill, Winston
Politicians and Politics
Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.
Churchill, Winston
Politicians and Politics
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Churchill, Winston
Opportunity
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
Churchill, Winston
Opinions
Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.
Churchill, Winston
President
Any 20 year-old who isn t a liberal doesn t have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn t a conservative doesn t have a brain.
Churchill, Winston
Politicians and Politics
The empires of the futures are the empires of the mind.
Churchill, Winston
Mind
Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. [About Russia]
Churchill, Winston
Nations
The maxim of the British people is Business as usual.
Churchill, Winston
Nations
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
Churchill, Winston
Optimism
Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never -- in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
Churchill, Winston
Perseverance
Never, never, never, never give up.
Churchill, Winston
Perseverance
Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. You have only to persevere to save yourselves.
Churchill, Winston
Perseverance
I m just preparing my impromptu remarks.
Churchill, Winston
Planning
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
Churchill, Winston
Planning
These are not dark days: these are great days -- the greatest days our country has ever lived.
Churchill, Winston
Optimism
There is in the act of preparing, the moment you start caring.
Churchill, Winston
Planning
There are few virtues that the Poles do not possess and there are few errors they have ever avoided.
Churchill, Winston
Nationalities and Nationalism
Responsibility is the price of greatness.
Churchill, Winston
Responsibility
The latest refinements of science are linked with the cruelties of the Stone Age.
Churchill, Winston
Science and Scientists
I am easily satisfied with the very best.
Churchill, Winston
Satisfaction
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Churchill, Winston
Simplicity
Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.
Churchill, Winston
Service
Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Churchill, Winston
Success
When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber.
Churchill, Winston
Silence
It cannot in the opinion of His Majesty s Government be classified as slavery in the extreme acceptance of the word without some risk of terminological inexactitude.
Churchill, Winston
Slavery
If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future.
Churchill, Winston
Time and Time Management
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
Churchill, Winston
Solitude
Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.
Churchill, Winston
Simplicity
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.
Churchill, Winston
Truth
Say what you have to say and first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending; sit down.
Churchill, Winston
Speakers and Speaking
War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can t smile, grin. If you can t grin, keep out of the way till you can.
Churchill, Winston
War
Opening amenities are often opening inanities.
Churchill, Winston
Speakers and Speaking
If you have an important point to make, don t try to be subtle or clever. Use the pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time; a tremendous whack.
Churchill, Winston
Speakers and Speaking
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.
Churchill, Winston
Quotations
Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed.
Churchill, Winston
Security
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.
Churchill, Winston
Truth
No crime is so great as daring to excel.
Churchill, Winston
Risk
Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game.
Churchill, Winston
Risk
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
Churchill, Winston
Change
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
Churchill, Winston
Courage
Danger -- if you meet it promptly and without flinching -- you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
Churchill, Winston
Danger
Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.
Churchill, Winston
Courage
I never worry about action, but only inaction.
Churchill, Winston
Action
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Churchill, Winston
Courage
This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.
Churchill, Winston
Courage
Nothing is so exhilarating in life as to be shot at with no result.
Churchill, Winston
Danger
We have a lot of anxieties, and one cancels out another very often.
Churchill, Winston
Anxiety
Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
Churchill, Winston
Courage
Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.
Churchill, Winston
Courage
I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
Churchill, Winston
Color
I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk.
Churchill, Winston
Alcohol and Alcoholism
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
Churchill, Winston
Alcohol and Alcoholism
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
Churchill, Winston
Achievement
It is all right to rat, but you can t re-rat.
Churchill, Winston
Betrayal
No two on earth in all things can agree. All have some daring singularity.
Churchill, Winston
Agreement
Don t talk to me about naval tradition. It s nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
Churchill, Winston
Army and Navy
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.
Churchill, Winston
Adaptability
There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.
Churchill, Winston
Children
We are happier in many ways when we are old than when we were young. The young sow wild oats. The old grow sage.
Churchill, Winston
Age and Aging
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Churchill, Winston
Capitalism
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.
Churchill, Winston
Attitude
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
Churchill, Winston
Arts and Artists
In those days he was wiser than he is now -- he used frequently to take my advice.
Churchill, Winston
Advice
Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal.
Churchill, Winston
Animals
It s no use saying, We are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Churchill, Winston
Achievement
Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
Churchill, Winston
Worry
I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.
Churchill, Winston
Words
Short words are the best and old words when short are best of all.
Churchill, Winston
Vocabulary
Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.
Churchill, Winston
Vengeance
When I look back on all the worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened.
Churchill, Winston
Worry
Eating words has never given me indigestion.
Churchill, Winston
Words
If I was your wife Sir, I d poison you! Madam, if you were my wife, I d let you!
Churchill, Winston
Wives
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
Churchill, Winston
Wordiness
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.
Churchill, Winston
Victory
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.
Churchill, Winston
Vision
We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.
Churchill, Winston
Wealth
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Churchill, Winston
Virtue
Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
Churchill, Winston
Writers and Writing