Statesman · English · 1874 – 1965 · 169 quotes
If you're going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
Statesman · English · 1874 – 1965
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.
He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
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.
Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
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.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
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.
Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
I never worry about action, but only inaction.
Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
The first quality that is needed is audacity.
To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
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.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
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.
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
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.
Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.
We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.
We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.
I am easily satisfied with the very best.
A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.
No crime is so great as daring to excel.
I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Great and good are seldom the same man.
I like a man who grins when he fights.
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
History is written by the victors.
I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
