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Winston Churchill

British statesman and leader during World War II; received Nobel prize for literature in 1953 (1874-1965)

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
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 hillswe shall never surrender.
Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
We are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow-worm.
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.
Fanatic. One who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.
I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
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.
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.
Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
Too often the strong silent man is silent because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the 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.
We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
The heights of great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upwards in the night.
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
Immature love says, I love you because I need you, mature love says, I need you because I love you.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal it is the courage to continue that counts.
A cat will look down to a man. A dog will look up to a man. But a pig will look you straight in the eye and see his equal.
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
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 all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
We shape our buildings and they shape us.
You will make all kinds of mistakes but as long as you are generous and true and fierce you cannot hurt the world, or even seriously distress her.
When you're going through hell, keep going.
Success is never final.
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
In my belief, you cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you also understand the most amusing.
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice. I consider the real vice is making losses.
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.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
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.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
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.
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt... We shall not fail or falter we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
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 cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.
I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
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. 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.
It is better to be making the news than taking it to be an actor rather than a critic.
It is no use saying We are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Kites rise highest against the wind---not with it.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Commonwealth and the Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.
Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.
Mr Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.
My wife and I tried to breakfast together, but we had to stop or our marriage would have been wrecked.
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'.
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.
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
So they the Government go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
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.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
The maxim of the British people is 'Business as Usual.'
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.
The substance of the eminent Socialist gentleman's speech is that making a profit is a sin, but it is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss.
There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.
This report, by its very length, defends itself against being read.
We shall not fail or falter we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
We will have no truce or parlay with you Hitler, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst -- and we will do our best.
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 I look back on all the worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened.
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.
When you get a thing the way you want it, leave it alone.
When you get to the end of your rope tie a knot and hang on.
Why you may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman, and th most audacious soldier, put them at a table together-and what do you get? The sum of their fears.

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