When thinking of Winston Churchill’s many accomplishments, the first ones that come to mind are probably those achieved during his two stints as Prime Minister in the United Kingdom. We would probably run out of space trying to write them all down here, as he sure left a significant mark in the history books. If you’re unfamiliar with this historical figure or know him only as a cigar-loving MP from Peaky Blinders—don’t worry, as these Winston Churchill quotes will paint a vivid picture of his persona.
It’s only natural that such a vast experience like that of Churchill’s produced a wide selection of powerful quotes applicable to almost every walk of life. From motivation for work and sayings with hidden meanings to simply inspiring quotes to instill you to move forward, quotes by Winston Churchill carry a lot of power. Hence, to grasp the true meaning behind them, make sure you give them thorough consideration.
While you might not find Winston Churchill’s quotes funny, they bring a different set of qualities to the table. A lot of these sayings come from his famous speeches, which moved a great number of people. Instilling soldiers and civilians with hope and bravery and driving them forward is a feat that very few people on Earth could rival.
So get your pencils sharpened and dig into this list of Winston Churchill quotes. Vote for your favorites and inspire your inner circle by sharing these bits of wisdom!
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“You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities.”
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
Chamberlain gets a bad rep but his government wasn’t blind. They knew war with Germany was probably going to happen. They also knew they and the French were not ready yet. He was stalling for time to build up their militaries.
"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop."
“If you destroy a free market you create a black market.”
“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”
“When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."
"Politics are almost as exciting as war and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics — many times."
"In wartime… truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
“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; for without victory, there is no survival.”
“A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.”
“A modern dictator with the resources of science at his disposal can easily lead the public on from day to day, destroying all persistency of thought and aim, so that memory is blurred by the multiplicity of daily news and judgment baffled by its perversion.”
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” - On the skill and courage of British airmen in the Battle of Britain
“My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best.”
"The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other."
“Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.”
"I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."
Nancy Astor: "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!"
Winston Churchill: "And if I were your husband I would drink it."
“Time after time, history ran over the luddites and romanticists, those who sought to restore the old and delay the new. And every time, history did it with faster, more reliable and more advanced vehicles.”
"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."
“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.”
"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."
"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations."
An insightful quote can convey a complex idea in a more easily digestible package.
“Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”
“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.”
“Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that any one who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The Statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events…”
“There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.”
"Democracy is not based on violence or terrorism, but on reason, on fair play, on freedom, on respecting the rights of other people."
"Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is."
"…it is better to be both right and consistent. But if you have to choose — you must choose to be right."
“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”
“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 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.”
"I have derived continued benefit from criticism at all periods of my life and I do not remember any time when I was ever short of it."
"Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, 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.'”
"Madness is however an affliction which in war carries with it the advantage of surprise."
“When men are fighting for their lives they are not often disposed to be complimentary to those who are trying to kill them.”
"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."
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
"In politics when you are in doubt what to do, do nothing… when you are in doubt what to say, say what you really think."
"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..."
"You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war." - To Neville Chamberlain
“It is my belief that by accumulating deterrents of all kinds against aggression we shall, in fact, ward off the fearful catastrophe, the fears of which darken the life and mar the progress of all the peoples of the globe.”
“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.”
"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others."
"Without tradition art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation it is a corpse."
"But Governments and peoples do not always take rational decisions. Sometimes they take mad decisions, or one set of people get control who compel all others to obey and aid them in folly."
“People who are not prepared to do unpopular things and to defy clamour are not fit to be Ministers in times of stress.”
"Danger gathers upon our path. We cannot afford – we have no right – to look back. We must look forward."
"It may seem strange that a great advance in the world in industry, in controls of all kinds, should be made in time of war… war has taught us to make these vast strides forward towards a far more complete equalisation of the parts to be played by men and women in society."
"Unteachable from infancy to tomb — there is the first and main characteristic of mankind."
"Statesmen are not called upon only to settle easy questions. These often settle themselves. It is where the balance quivers, and the proportions are veiled in mist, that the opportunity for world-saving decisions presents itself."
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - On British Labour politician Stafford Cripps
“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.”
“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”
“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.”
“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.”
“How fortunate it was for the world that when these great trials came upon it there was a generation that terror could not conquer and brutal violence could not enslave.”
"What is our policy?… to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime."
"A medal glitters, but it also casts a shadow." - A reference to the envy caused by the award of honours
"There are men in the world who derive as stern an exaltation from the proximity of disaster and ruin, as others from success."
"A single glass of champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced, the imagination is agreeably stirred, the wits become more nimble. A bottle produces a contrary effect. Excess causes a comatose insensibility. So it is with war, and the quality of both is best discovered by sipping."
"It is one thing to see the forward path and another to be able to take it. But it is better to have an ambitious plan than none at all."
"Do not turn the superior eye of critical passivity upon these efforts... we must not be ambitious. We cannot aspire to masterpieces. We may content ourselves with a joy ride in a paint-box."
“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”
“I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and Fact.”
"Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt… give us the tools and we will finish the job."
