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Home: Winston Churchill Quotes

Winston Churchill Quotes

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Born On
1874-11-30
Died On
1965-01-24
Birth Place
Blenheim Palace
Death Place
Hyde Park Gate
Birth Sign
sagittarius
Father
Lord Randolph Churchill
Mother
Lady Randolph Churchill
Spouse
Clementine Churchill (1908–1965)
Nationality
British
Education
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (1894), Harrow School, St. George's School Ascot
Political Leaders, Leaders, Prime Ministers

The political accomplishments of Winston Churchill are well known, but here’s something about this acclaimed politician that not many are aware of. Sources close to the former Prime Minister of the UK, remembered the man for his witty responses during conversations. There are several instances from the former British premier’s life that prove this fact.

Churchill had apparently attended a social event much before the outbreak of ‘World War I’. He had apparently spent his time in the company of a gentleman from the Italian military force as well as a diplomat from Luxembourg, at this event. Intrigued by the appearance of a medal the diplomat sported, the Italian military officer asked the man from Luxembourg what it denoted.

 The diplomat responded by saying ‘It is an ancient order called the Royal Admiralty Cross’. The Italian man then turned towards the great Winston Churchill, who was the First Lord of The Admiralty back then. The military officer asked Winston, 'Why should they have an admiralty?' referring to the lack of a naval force in Luxembourg. Churchill displayed his witty side by saying 'You in Italy, after all, have a minister of finance - yet you don't have a treasury!'

There have been several other instances where Churchill had displayed his humorous side.  He was once spotted smoking at a museum by an officer, who quickly ran towards Winston and said ‘Sir you mustn’t smoke’. The witty Churchill replied ‘Don’t worry boy. I don’t inhale’. Thus, this episode went on to become a memorable one.

 

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Chance Truth World
Winston Churchill

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

Change
Winston Churchill

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

Life
Winston Churchill

If you're going through hell, keep going.

Motivation
Winston Churchill

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

Attitude
Winston Churchill

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.

Winston Churchill

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Good Life Enemies
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

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

Courage Success
Winston Churchill

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

Democracy Government
Winston Churchill

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

Opportunities
Winston Churchill

Never, never, never give up.

Motivation
Winston Churchill

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Courage
Winston Churchill

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.

Architecture
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

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.

Wars
Winston Churchill

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

Funny
Winston Churchill

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

Socialism
Winston Churchill

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

Greatness Hope Justice
Winston Churchill

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Success Excitement
Winston Churchill

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

Success
Winston Churchill

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

Winston Churchill

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

Truth
Winston Churchill

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

Capitalism Sharing Socialism Virtues
Winston Churchill

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

Strength Time
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.

Strength
Winston Churchill

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Truth Wars
Winston Churchill

It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.

Wisdom Future
Winston Churchill

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Opportunities
Winston Churchill

History is written by the victors.

History
Winston Churchill

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.

Winston Churchill

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

Change Mind
Winston Churchill

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

Mystics & Mysticism
Winston Churchill

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

Learning
Winston Churchill

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. Never run away from anything. Never!

Winston Churchill

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.

Endurance Victory
Winston Churchill

If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.

Past Future
Winston Churchill

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

History
Winston Churchill

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.

Winston Churchill

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

Quality Courage
Winston Churchill

There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.

Opinion Public
Winston Churchill

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Greatness Responsibility Greatness
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

Communication Risk
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

Life Nothing
Winston Churchill

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.

Communication Time
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

Winston Churchill

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.

Art Tradition Innovation
Winston Churchill

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

Business Politics
Winston Churchill

I am easily satisfied with the very best.

Winston Churchill

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

Words
Winston Churchill

Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.

Politics Country
Winston Churchill

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

Wives
Winston Churchill

Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.

Strength
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

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

Democracy Government
Winston Churchill

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

Politics Respect Law
Winston Churchill

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

Winston Churchill

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.

Winston Churchill

In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.

Politics Wars
Winston Churchill

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

Worrying
Winston Churchill

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

Patriotism Conflict
Winston Churchill

Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.

Winston Churchill

'No comment' is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.

Winston Churchill

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

Death Greatness
Winston Churchill

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.

Suffering Endurance Heart
Winston Churchill

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.

Body Pain Things
Winston Churchill

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

Good Books
Winston Churchill

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

Time Truth
Winston Churchill

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

Confidential History
Winston Churchill

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.

Politics Wars
Winston Churchill

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.

Upgrading
Winston Churchill

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

Time
Winston Churchill

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

Future Mind
Winston Churchill

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

Nature Trees
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

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.

Ability Politics
Winston Churchill

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

Winston Churchill

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.

Ability
Winston Churchill

The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.

People Respect Nation
Winston Churchill

Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.

Winston Churchill

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.

Thinking
Winston Churchill

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.

Nation
Winston Churchill

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.

Time
Winston Churchill

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

Nothing
Winston Churchill

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

Fear Future
Winston Churchill

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.

Life Words
Winston Churchill

I like a man who grins when he fights.

Winston Churchill

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

Winston Churchill

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.

People Business
Winston Churchill

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?

People World
Winston Churchill

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

Nothing Truth
Winston Churchill

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

Nothing
Winston Churchill

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.

Girl
Winston Churchill

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.

Smile Wars
Winston Churchill

Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game.

Winston Churchill

I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.

Winston Churchill

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