Winston S. Churchill Quotes

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

If you are going through hell, keep going.

My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.

Never, never, never give in!

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

It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

Don't interrupt me while I'm interrupting.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

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

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.

A good speech should be like a woman's skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.

We are all worms, But I do believe that I am a glow worm.

We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.

You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

If you cannot read all your books...fondle them---peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances.

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.

A joke is a very serious thing.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.

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

Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.

Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes you must do what is required.

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.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.

In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity In Peace: Good Will.

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.

A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.

An old battleax of a woman said to Winston Churchill, "If you were my husband I would put poison in your tea." Churchill's response, "Ma'am if you were my wife I would drink it.

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.

We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained.

A small lie needs a bodyguard of bigger lies to protect it.

The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.

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 for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

This paper, by its very length, defends itself from ever being read.

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

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.

You create your own universe as you go along.

I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend ... if you have one." — George Bernard Shaw, playwright (to Winston Churchill) "Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second, if there is one." — Churchill's response

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong.

This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning.

Good and great are seldom in the same man.

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.

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

Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.

Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world. — Winston S. Churchill

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.

If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.

Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut.

Always remember, that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge

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

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me

The malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous.

My wife and I tried to breakfast together, but we had to stop or our marriage would have been wrecked.

One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'.

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

It's no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.

You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.

I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself

We have not journeyed all this way because we are made of sugar candy.

I 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.

The maxim, "Nothing prevails but perfection," may be spelled PARALYSIS.

You make all kinds of mistakes, but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.

Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.

it is the people who control the Government, not the Government the people.

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.

It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.

And wherever men are fighting against barbarism, tyranny, and massacre, for freedom, law, and honour, let them remember that the fame of their deeds, even though they themselves be exterminated, may perhaps be celebrated as long as the world rolls round.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, 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, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them – peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the 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. Let them 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.

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, 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.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; In “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat,” his first speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons May 13, 1940 quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland in “However Long and Hard the Road” BYU Devotional 18 Jan 1983

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

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.

Socialism needs to pull down wealth; liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests, Liberalism would preserve [them] ... by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. Socialism assails the preeminence of the individual; Liberalism seeks ... to build up a minimum standard for the mass. Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capitalism; Liberalism attacks monopoly.

Now at this very moment I knew that the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! ... How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care ... We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end ... Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to a powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.

If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them – peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the 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. Let them 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.