Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the UK in the 40’s and 50’s. As one of the greatest wartime heroes of the past century, he was known for many things. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature and gave the famous Finest Hour speech in 1940 even though he had a speech impediment. There was even a recent movie, The King’s Speech, that portrayed the speaking trouble he had as he was preparing his Finest Hour speech to his nation after the fall of France took place where he had to take a severe situation and instill determination in his people. The following are a list of some good quotes by Churchill.
“If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
“This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.”
“This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.”
“Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.”
“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”
“I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.”
“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”
“A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.”
“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”
“Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.”
“The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy’s aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.”
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
“The length of this document defends it well against the risk of its being read.”
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
“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.”
“When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.”
“When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.”
“When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite. ”
“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse. ”
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
“In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.”
“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.”
“Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.”
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
“Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.”
“Great and good are seldom the same man.”
“He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
“Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.”
“History is written by the victors.”
“We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.”
“We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.”
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
“We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities… because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
“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.”
“Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.”
“Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.”
“I never worry about action, but only inaction.”
