Sir Winston Churchill Quotations

1.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.

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

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

4.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.

5.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.

6.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.

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

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

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

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

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

12.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.

13.A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.

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

15.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.

16.A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

27.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.

28.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."

29.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.

30.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.

31.We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.

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

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

34.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.'

35.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.

36.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.

37.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.

38.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'.

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

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

41.From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.