Winston Churchill Quotes

Most popular Winston Churchill Quotes

A hard-boiled egg of a man. - Winston Churchill quote.
A hard-boiled egg of a man.
— Winston Churchill Winston Churchill
History is written by the victors. - Winston Churchill quote.
History is written by the victors.
— Winston Churchill

history

I like a man who grins when he fights. - Winston Churchill quote.
I like a man who grins when he fights.
— Winston Churchill
If you mean to profit, learn to please. - Winston Churchill quote.
If you mean to profit, learn to please.
— Winston Churchill
The price of greatness is responsibility. - Winston Churchill quote.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
— Winston Churchill

greatness responsibility

Art is to beauty what honor is to honesty. - Winston Churchill quote.
Art is to beauty what honor is to honesty.
— Winston Churchill Winston S. Churchill: Youth, 1874-1900

art

If you are going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill quote.
If you are going through hell, keep going.
— Winston Churchill

adversity

Experts should be on tap but never on top. - Winston Churchill quote.
Experts should be on tap but never on top.
— Winston Churchill

consultants

We shape our buildings, then they shape us. - Winston Churchill quote.
We shape our buildings, then they shape us.
— Winston Churchill Churchill By Himself

architecture

Eating words has never given me indigestion. - Winston Churchill quote.
Eating words has never given me indigestion.
— Winston Churchill
The first quality that is needed is audacity. - Winston Churchill quote.
The first quality that is needed is audacity.
— Winston Churchill

artists

If food is scarce, why isn't Gandhi dead yet? - Winston Churchill quote.
If food is scarce, why isn't Gandhi dead yet?
— Winston Churchill

gandhi racist World War II

Life is a test and this world a place of trial. - Winston Churchill quote.
Life is a test and this world a place of trial.
— Winston Churchill

life

Advertising nourishes the consuming power of men. - Winston Churchill quote.
Advertising nourishes the consuming power of men.
— Winston Churchill Confessions of an Advertising Man

advertising

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. - Winston Churchill quote.
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
— Winston Churchill

architecture

An iron curtain has descended across the Continent. - Winston Churchill quote.
An iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
— Winston Churchill

cold war

We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm. - Winston Churchill quote.
We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.
— Winston Churchill

personal

Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning. - Winston Churchill quote.
Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.
— Winston Churchill
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. - Winston Churchill quote.
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
— Winston Churchill

mind

It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. - Winston Churchill quote.
It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
— Winston Churchill
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. - Winston Churchill quote.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
— Winston Churchill

attitude

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber. - Winston Churchill quote.
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.
— Winston Churchill The Wit & Wisdom of Winston Churchill
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry. - Winston Churchill quote.
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
— Winston Churchill

character anger

Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge. - Winston Churchill quote.
Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.
— Winston Churchill
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. - Winston Churchill quote.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
— Winston Churchill

work

We are all worms.  But I do believe that I am a glow-worm. - Winston Churchill quote.
We are all worms.  But I do believe that I am a glow-worm.
— Winston Churchill Winston Churchill as I Knew Him
He is the only bull who brings his own china shop with him. - Winston Churchill quote.
He is the only bull who brings his own china shop with him.
— Winston Churchill The Last Lion
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite. - Winston Churchill quote.
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
— Winston Churchill
Hatred plays the same part in government as acid in chemistry. - Winston Churchill quote.
Hatred plays the same part in government as acid in chemistry.
— Winston Churchill Maxims and Reflections

hate

We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. - Winston Churchill quote.
We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.
— Winston Churchill

architecture

We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect. - Winston Churchill quote.
We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.
— Winston Churchill
It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive. - Winston Churchill quote.
It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.
— Winston Churchill

power

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself. - Winston Churchill quote.
The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.
— Winston Churchill

self-control

Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance. - Winston Churchill quote.
Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.
— Winston Churchill
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill quote.
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
— Winston Churchill
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me. - Winston Churchill quote.
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
— Winston Churchill By Quentin Reynolds

alcohol

I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. - Winston Churchill quote.
I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.
— Winston Churchill

racist

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

war

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else. - Winston Churchill quote.
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
— Winston Churchill

attitude

I know of no case where a man added to his dignity by standing on it. - Winston Churchill quote.
I know of no case where a man added to his dignity by standing on it.
— Winston Churchill The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill

dignity

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill quote.
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
— Winston Churchill

appeasement

Apt analogies are among the most formidable weapons of the rhetorician. - Winston Churchill quote.
Apt analogies are among the most formidable weapons of the rhetorician.
— Winston Churchill The Wit and Wisdom of Winston Churchill

analogy

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. - Winston Churchill quote.
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
— Winston Churchill
Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill quote.
Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
— Winston Churchill
One must regard the hyphen as a blemish to be avoided wherever possible. - Winston Churchill quote.
One must regard the hyphen as a blemish to be avoided wherever possible.
— Winston Churchill in The New York Times

punctuation

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure. - Winston Churchill quote.
This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.
— Winston Churchill

perseverance

Broadly speaking, the short words are best, and the old words best of all. - Winston Churchill quote.
Broadly speaking, the short words are best, and the old words best of all.
— Winston Churchill

words speech

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes. - Winston Churchill quote.
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
— Winston Churchill
A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. - Winston Churchill quote.
A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
— Winston Churchill

foolishness fanaticism

The maxim "Nothing avails but perfection" may be spelt shorter: "Paralysis." - Winston Churchill quote.
The maxim "Nothing avails but perfection" may be spelt shorter: "Paralysis."
— Winston Churchill The Hinge of Fate

perfection

Sometimes it is not enough that we do our best; we must do what is required. - Winston Churchill quote.
Sometimes it is not enough that we do our best; we must do what is required.
— Winston Churchill

doing your best

It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill quote.
It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.
— Winston Churchill
The further backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. - Winston Churchill quote.
The further backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.
— Winston Churchill
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill quote.
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
— Winston Churchill

failure success

There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies. - Winston Churchill quote.
There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.
— Winston Churchill
Modern science is standing on tiptoe, ready to open the doors of a golden age. - Winston Churchill quote.
Modern science is standing on tiptoe, ready to open the doors of a golden age.
— Winston Churchill
Saving is a very fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you. - Winston Churchill quote.
Saving is a very fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.
— Winston Churchill

thrift

In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice. - Winston Churchill quote.
In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.
— Winston Churchill

advice

To gain one's way is no escape from the responsibility for an inferior solution. - Winston Churchill quote.
To gain one's way is no escape from the responsibility for an inferior solution.
— Winston Churchill
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. - Winston Churchill quote.
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
— Winston Churchill

learning

For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else. - Winston Churchill quote.
For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
— Winston Churchill
Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential. - Winston Churchill quote.
Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential.
— Winston Churchill

hard work intelligence

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. - Winston Churchill quote.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
— Winston Churchill

lies

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival. - Winston Churchill quote.
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
— Winston Churchill Sir Winston Churchill: A Self-Portrait

inspiration suffering motivational

It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic. - Winston Churchill quote.
It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.
— Winston Churchill

action

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me. - Winston Churchill quote.
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
— Winston Churchill
That wasn't a maiden speech—it was a brazen hussy of a speech—a painted tart of a speech. - Winston Churchill quote.
That wasn't a maiden speech—it was a brazen hussy of a speech—a painted tart of a speech.
— Winston Churchill

oratory

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. - Winston Churchill quote.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
— Winston Churchill
In wartime, Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. - Winston Churchill quote.
In wartime, Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
— Winston Churchill Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations

truth war

I would like to remind you that without a degree of familiarity we could not breed anything. - Winston Churchill quote.
I would like to remind you that without a degree of familiarity we could not breed anything.
— Winston Churchill The Last Lion

familiarity

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod. - Winston Churchill quote.
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
— Winston Churchill

motivation

No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections. - Winston Churchill quote.
No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.
— Winston Churchill Great Contemporaries

politicians

Democracy means that if the doorbell rings in the early hours, it is likely to be the milkman. - Winston Churchill quote.
Democracy means that if the doorbell rings in the early hours, it is likely to be the milkman.
— Winston Churchill

democracy

Relief would do no good. Indians breed like rabbits and will outstrip any available food supply. - Winston Churchill quote.
Relief would do no good. Indians breed like rabbits and will outstrip any available food supply.
— Winston Churchill

racist World War II

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

victory & defeat

I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and Fact. - Winston Churchill quote.
I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and Fact.
— Winston Churchill

facts

If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future. - Winston Churchill quote.
If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
— Winston Churchill
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse. - Winston Churchill quote.
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
— Winston Churchill

art

Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested. - Winston Churchill quote.
Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.
— Winston Churchill A Roving Commission: My Early Life

teaching school

I will not pretend that, if I had to choose between communism and Nazism, I would choose communism. - Winston Churchill quote.
I will not pretend that, if I had to choose between communism and Nazism, I would choose communism.
— Winston Churchill

communism

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. - Winston Churchill quote.
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
— Winston Churchill

Russia

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. - Winston Churchill quote.
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
— Winston Churchill
Courage is the first of the human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others. - Winston Churchill quote.
Courage is the first of the human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others.
— Winston Churchill
Never give in—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—except to convictions of honor and good sense. - Winston Churchill quote.
Never give in—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—except to convictions of honor and good sense.
— Winston Churchill

principles

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount.  And the tigers are getting hungry. - Winston Churchill quote.
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount.  And the tigers are getting hungry.
— Winston Churchill Evening Standard

dictatorship

True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information. - Winston Churchill quote.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
— Winston Churchill

genius

Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill. - Winston Churchill quote.
Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
— Winston Churchill
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter. - Winston Churchill quote.
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
— Winston Churchill

egotism

I think we shall have to take the Chinese in hand and regulate them. The Aryan stock is bound to triumph. - Winston Churchill quote.
I think we shall have to take the Chinese in hand and regulate them. The Aryan stock is bound to triumph.
— Winston Churchill Sarasota Herald Tribune, April 21 1966 citing Churchill from 1901, as quoted in Gustavus Ohlinger's interview with Churchill published 65 years after it occurred, in the Michigan Quarterly Review. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1774&dat=19660421&id=whgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p2UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7001,4869941&hl=en
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Winston Churchill quote.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
— Winston Churchill

pessimism optimism

The British . . . are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst. - Winston Churchill quote.
The British . . . are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.
— Winston Churchill

English people

Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it. - Winston Churchill quote.
Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.
— Winston Churchill

greatness

Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. - Winston Churchill quote.
Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
— Winston Churchill

democracy

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. - Winston Churchill quote.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
— Winston Churchill
What was gunpowder? Trivial. What was electricity? Meaningless. This atomic bomb is the second coming in wrath. - Winston Churchill quote.
What was gunpowder? Trivial. What was electricity? Meaningless. This atomic bomb is the second coming in wrath.
— Winston Churchill

nuclear

Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party. - Winston Churchill quote.
Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.
— Winston Churchill

politics

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. - Winston Churchill quote.
I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
— Winston Churchill

death

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 quote.
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

cigars Cigar

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. - Winston Churchill quote.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
— Winston Churchill

truth

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honour, duty, mercy, hope. - Winston Churchill quote.
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honour, duty, mercy, hope.
— Winston Churchill

greatness

People occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. - Winston Churchill quote.
People occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
— Winston Churchill
I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and this trial. - Winston Churchill quote.
I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and this trial.
— Winston Churchill The Second World War

preparation

A curious sport whose object is to put a very small ball into a very small hole with implements ill-designed for the purpose. - Winston Churchill quote.
A curious sport whose object is to put a very small ball into a very small hole with implements ill-designed for the purpose.
— Winston Churchill The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill

golf

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times. - Winston Churchill quote.
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
— Winston Churchill
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. Winston Churchill. There, but for the grace of God, goes God. - Winston Churchill quote.
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. Winston Churchill. There, but for the grace of God, goes God.
— Winston Churchill
Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war, you can only be killed once. But in politics many times. - Winston Churchill quote.
Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war, you can only be killed once. But in politics many times.
— Winston Churchill

politics

Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet been found. - Winston Churchill quote.
Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet been found.
— Winston Churchill
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. - Winston Churchill quote.
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
— Winston Churchill

conservative liberal

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others. - Winston Churchill quote.
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.
— Winston Churchill Strand

courage

The V sign is the symbol of the unconquerable will of the occupied territories, and a portent of the fate awaiting the Nazi tyranny. - Winston Churchill quote.
The V sign is the symbol of the unconquerable will of the occupied territories, and a portent of the fate awaiting the Nazi tyranny.
— Winston Churchill

World War II

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. - Winston Churchill quote.
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.
— Winston Churchill

democracy

I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes. - Winston Churchill quote.
I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes.
— Winston Churchill

racist

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. - Winston Churchill quote.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
— Winston Churchill

capitalism

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. - Winston Churchill quote.
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.
— Winston Churchill

personal English people

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 Churchill quote.
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 Churchill

victory

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. - Winston Churchill quote.
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.
— Winston Churchill Winston S. Churchill, Young Statesman, 1901–1914

taxes

The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, "God save the Queen"; when she loses, she votes down the prime minister. - Winston Churchill quote.
The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, "God save the Queen"; when she loses, she votes down the prime minister.
— Winston Churchill
Writing a book 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. - Winston Churchill quote.
Writing a book 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.
— Winston Churchill

writing

The surest guide to health, say what they will, is never to suppose we shall be ill; Most of those evils we poor mortals know, from doctors and imagination flow. - Winston Churchill quote.
The surest guide to health, say what they will, is never to suppose we shall be ill; Most of those evils we poor mortals know, from doctors and imagination flow.
— Winston Churchill
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill quote.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
— Winston Churchill New Statesman and Nation

criticism

So far as Britain and Russia were concerned, how would it do for you to have 90% of Romania, for us to have 90% of the say in Greece, and go 50/50 about Yugoslavia? - Winston Churchill quote.
So far as Britain and Russia were concerned, how would it do for you to have 90% of Romania, for us to have 90% of the say in Greece, and go 50/50 about Yugoslavia?
— Winston Churchill

World War II

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. - Winston Churchill quote.
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.
— Winston Churchill

military geopolitics

I shall always be glad to have seen it - for the same reason Papa gave for being glad to have seen Lisbon — namely, that it will be unnecessary for me ever to see it again. - Winston Churchill quote.
I shall always be glad to have seen it - for the same reason Papa gave for being glad to have seen Lisbon — namely, that it will be unnecessary for me ever to see it again.
— Winston Churchill

Travel

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 quote.
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 Triumph and Tragedy

food cigars alcohol

I do not want suggestions as to how we can disable the economy and the machinery of war, what I want are suggestions as to how we can roast the German refugees on their escape from Breslau. - Winston Churchill quote.
I do not want suggestions as to how we can disable the economy and the machinery of war, what I want are suggestions as to how we can roast the German refugees on their escape from Breslau.
— Winston Churchill

World War II

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. - Winston Churchill quote.
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.
— Winston Churchill

communication

The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease should be universally applied it should not be applied at all. But you must start somewhere. - Winston Churchill quote.
The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease should be universally applied it should not be applied at all. But you must start somewhere.
— Winston Churchill

change

One may dislike Hitler's system and yet admire his patriotic achievement. If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations. - Winston Churchill quote.
One may dislike Hitler's system and yet admire his patriotic achievement. If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations.
— Winston Churchill
[Gandhi] ought to be lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi, and then trampled on by an enormous elephant with the new Viceroy seated on its back. Gandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be grappled with and crushed. - Winston Churchill quote.
[Gandhi] ought to be lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi, and then trampled on by an enormous elephant with the new Viceroy seated on its back. Gandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be grappled with and crushed.
— Winston Churchill

gandhi

It may be that vengeance is sweet, and that the gods forbade vengeance to men because they reserved for themselves so delicious and intoxicating a drink.  But no one should drain the cup to the bottom.  The dregs are often filthy-tasting. - Winston Churchill quote.
It may be that vengeance is sweet, and that the gods forbade vengeance to men because they reserved for themselves so delicious and intoxicating a drink.  But no one should drain the cup to the bottom.  The dregs are often filthy-tasting.
— Winston Churchill The River War

revenge

But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness. - Winston Churchill quote.
But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness.
— Winston Churchill

racist

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 honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. - Winston Churchill quote.
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 honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
— Winston Churchill

determination

It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one.  Of these the former are the majority. - Winston Churchill quote.
It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one.  Of these the former are the majority.

work & play pleasure

What a man! I have lost my heart!... Fascism has rendered a service to the entire world... If I were Italian, I am sure I would have been with you entirely from the beginning of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passion of Leninism. - Winston Churchill quote.
What a man! I have lost my heart!... Fascism has rendered a service to the entire world... If I were Italian, I am sure I would have been with you entirely from the beginning of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passion of Leninism.
— 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 that point. - Winston Churchill quote.
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 that point.
— Winston Churchill

democracy voting

It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a campaign of civil disobedience, to parlay on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor. - Winston Churchill quote.
It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a campaign of civil disobedience, to parlay on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor.
— Winston Churchill

gandhi racist

The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the feeble-minded and insane classes, coupled as it is with a steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks, constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate... I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed up before another year has passed. - Winston Churchill quote.
The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the feeble-minded and insane classes, coupled as it is with a steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks, constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate... I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed up before another year has passed.
— Winston Churchill

racist

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 quote.
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

racist

This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States)... this worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire. - Winston Churchill quote.
This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States)... this worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.
— Winston Churchill Zionism versus Bolshevism, Illustrated Sunday Herald, February 1920

Jews

Without courage all other virtues lose their meaning.
— Winston Churchill
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
— Winston Churchill
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia.  It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
— Winston Churchill

Russia

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
— Winston Churchill

funny

Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
— Winston Churchill

politics

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings.  The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
— Winston Churchill

capitalism socialism

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.
— Winston Churchill

conviction

The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease can be universally applied it should not be applied at all. But you must begin somewhere.
— Winston Churchill

change

It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one.
— Winston Churchill Painting as a Pastime

work

Writing a book is an adventure.  To begin with it is a toy, then an amusement.  Then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then it becomes a tyrant and, in the last stage, just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
— Winston Churchill The Times

writing