Winston Churchill
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War.
Quotes
We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.
SourceLecture at Cleveland, Ohio (February 3, 1932), reported in Robert Rhodes James, ed., Winston S. Churchill · via Wikiquote
Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
SourceNewspaper interview (1902), when asked what qualities a politician required, Halle, Kay, Irrepressible Churchill · via Wikiquote
India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator.
SourceSpeech at the Constitutional Club, London (26 March 1931). · via Wikiquote
We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.
SourceRadio broadcast to German occupied, Vichy, and Free France (21 October 1940) · via Wikiquote
No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.
SourceIn Great Contemporaries, "Lord Rosebery" (1937) · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons, June 10, 1941 "Defence of Crete", in The Churchill War Papers · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons (January 23, 1948), cited in The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), Fred R · via Wikiquote
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
SourceOn the Soviet Union's failure to form a united Balkan front against Hitler; in The Second World War, Volume III · via Wikiquote
When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.
SourceIn The Second World War, Volume V: Closing the Ring (1952) Chapter 12 (Island Prizes Lost). · via Wikiquote
The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons, November 11, 1942 Debate on the address. · via Wikiquote
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Sourcespeech at Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, London, November 10, 1942: (partial text) · via Wikiquote
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons (4 June 1940). · via Wikiquote
I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
SourceChristopher Soames, speech at the Reform Club (28 April 1981), reported in Martin S · via Wikiquote
If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.
SourceTo his personal secretary John Colville the evening before Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union · via Wikiquote
The price of greatness is responsibility.
SourceThe Second World War (1939–1945) · via Wikiquote
I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
SourceIn debate in the House of Commons, 4 Nov 1952 · via Wikiquote
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.
SourceQuoted in Words of Wisdom: Winston Churchill, Students' Academy, Lulu Press (2014), Section Three · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceThe Second World War (1939–1945) · via Wikiquote
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
SourceThe Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898), Chapter X · via Wikiquote
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
SourceIn Reader's Digest (December 1954). · via Wikiquote
History is written by the victors.
SourceA History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–1958) · via Wikiquote
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
SourceMy Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930) · via Wikiquote
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
SourceFrom a speech given at the Royal Academy of Art in 1953; quoted in Time magazine (11 May 1954). · via Wikiquote
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
SourceSpeech at Harvard University, September 6, 1943 (full text, audio). · via Wikiquote
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
SourceAs cited in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations (2007), Ed. Goodwin, Black Dog Publishing, p. 49 · via Wikiquote
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
SourceThe Second World War (book series) (1948–1953) · via Wikiquote
To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
SourceRemarks at a White House luncheon (26 June 1954) · via Wikiquote
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons, also known as "The Few", made on 20 August 1940 · via Wikiquote
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons (October 22, 1945) "Demobilisation" · via Wikiquote
It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion's heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
SourceSpeech in Westminster Hall (30 November 1954), quoted in The Times (1 December 1954), p. 11 · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceAs quoted in the United States of America Congressional Record · via Wikiquote
A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
SourceNewspaper interview (1902), when asked what qualities a politician required, Halle, Kay, Irrepressible Churchill · via Wikiquote
Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.
SourceEarly career (1897–1929) · via Wikiquote
Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.
SourceThe Second World War, Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate (1951) Chapter 33 (The Battle of Alamein) · via Wikiquote
'No comment' is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.
SourcePost-war years (1945–1955) · via Wikiquote
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
SourceThe Second World War (1939–1945) · via Wikiquote
Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.
SourceBroadcast (21 March 1943), quoted in The Times (22 March 1943), p. 6 · via Wikiquote
Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.
SourceSpeech on receiving the London Times Literary Award November 2, 1949 · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceQuoted by Lord Normanbrook in Action This Day: Working With Churchill. Memoirs by Lord Norman Brook (And Others) (1968) · via Wikiquote
Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.
SourceSpeech given at Harrow School, Harrow, England, October 29, 1941 · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceThe Second World War (book series) (1948–1953) · via Wikiquote
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.
SourceSpeech (1922–1928); Complete Speeches, 1897-1963 (1974), Chelsea House, Vol. IV, p. 3462 · via Wikiquote
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
SourceOn Soviet communism and the Cold War, in a speech at Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946 (complete text) · via Wikiquote
The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.
One does not leave a convivial party before closing time.
There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.
The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.
I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.
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.
I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.
I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.
When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.
When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.
My wife and I tried two or three times in the last 40 years to have breakfast together, but it was so disagreeable we had to stop.
A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
Baldwin thought Europe was a bore, and Chamberlain thought it was only a greater Birmingham.
Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside.
Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.
If it weren't for painting, I wouldn't live; I couldn't bear the extra strain of things.
I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk.
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.
It is a fine game to play - the game of politics - and it is well worth waiting for a good hand before really plunging.
Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.
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.
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.
These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.
Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.
In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.
The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.
We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.
The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.
We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Never, never, never give up.
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.
We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.
Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
I never worry about action, but only inaction.
Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
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. Never run away from anything. Never!
Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
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.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.
Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong - these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.
Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game.
I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.
Great and good are seldom the same man.
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
I am easily satisfied with the very best.
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Eating words has never given me indigestion.
I like a man who grins when he fights.
Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.
No crime is so great as daring to excel.
Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong.
If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce.
A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.
It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.
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.
Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.
Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.
The first quality that is needed is audacity.
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.
When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.
Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.
No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.
For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.
I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.
Quotes without a listed source are commonly attributed to Winston Churchill. We add sources as we confirm them. How we source quotes
Disputed
Sources disagree about whether these words are genuine.
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.
Why it is disputedAs quoted in, but without a documented source: Joseph Romanella (2012): Adam's Dream: Is Everything We Think, Believe, and Perceive Real—or Is It All Imaginary?, page xxx. ISBN: 978-1-4525-0823-8 (sc). ISBN: 978-1-4525-0824-5 (e). Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America: Balboa Press, a division of Hay House. · via Wikiquote
It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.
Why it is disputedAppears in Churchill By Himself, ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs , p. 576 ("Appendix I : Red Herrings") : , with the following explanatory note ; "Reported by the usually reliable Graham Cawthorne, but not in Hansard; possibly an aside to a colleague, however" · via Wikiquote
Often misattributed
These are frequently credited to Winston Churchill, but the evidence points elsewhere.
If you're going through hell, keep going.
Actual originTrue origin unknown. Finest Hour described it as "not verifiable in any of the 50 million published words by and about him" (Finest Hour, The Journal of Winston Churchill, Number 145, Winter 2009–10, p. 9). A similar quotation: "If you're going through hell, don't stop!" is "plausibly attributed" to Oregon self-help author and counselor Douglas Bloch (1990), according to Quote Investigator. · via Wikiquote
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Actual originAttribution debunked in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. The earliest close match located by the Quote Investigator is from the 1953 book How to Say a Few Words by David Guy Powers. · via Wikiquote
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Actual originAttribution debunked in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. First known appearance is in a 1992 usenet post. · via Wikiquote
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Actual originThis quote is commonly attributed to Churchill, but appears in the "Red Herrings: False Attributions" appendix of Churchill by Himself : The Definitive Collection of Quotations (2008) by Richard Langworth, without citation as to where it originates. · via Wikiquote