Sir Winston Churchill

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

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

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

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.

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.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age.... 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 say, This was their finest hour.

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

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

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

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

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

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

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

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.

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.

A love of tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril; but the new view must come, the world must roll forward.

We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.

We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job.

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

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

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

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.

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

Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war. The cheers of the weak, well-meaning assemblies soon cease to count. Doom marches on.

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.

If you are not a liberal at twenty, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.

Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so much to so few.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

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

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

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.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, 'Verify your quotations.'

I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.

There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.

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 taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.

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

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

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.

It helps to write down half a dozen things which are worrying me. Two of them, say, disappear; about two, nothing can be done, so it’s no use worrying, and two perhaps can be settled.

Success is never final.

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

Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into a even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill- designed for the purpose.

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.

It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.

Statistics are like a drunk with a lampost: used more for support than illumination.

A woman once drove me to drink, and I never had the decency to thank her.

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.

All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

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

We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.

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

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.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.

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.