Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.
Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are drunk.
Churchill: And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.
Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.
Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.
To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.
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.' We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, 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. Speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940).
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. Speech given at Harrow School (1941-10-29).
I am prepared to meet my maker; whether my maker is prepared to meet me is entirely another matter.
When I was younger I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch. It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast.
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.
Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonour. They chose dishonour. They will have war. To Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons, after the Munich accords (1938).
For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else. Speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet in London (1954-11-09).
The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, we had to add whisky. By diligent effort, I learnt to like it.
We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it. Speech in the House of Commons (1940-07-14).
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 truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is. Speech in the House of Commons
In time of war, when truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. Harvard University (1943-09-06).
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy or that anyone who embarks on that 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… incompetent or arrogant commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant fortune, ugly surprise, awful miscalculations.
When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticise or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.
Unless some effective world supergovernment for the purpose of preventing war can be set up ... the prospects for peace and human progress are dark ....If .... it is found possible to build a world organization of irresistible force and inviolable authority for the purpose of securing peace, there are no limits to the blessings which all men enjoy and share.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. On Soviet communism and the Cold War.
Mr. Gandhi has gone very high in my esteem since he stood up for the untouchables… I do not care whether you are more or less loyal to Great Britain… Tell Mr. Gandhi to use the powers that are offered and make the thing a success. Letter to G.D. Birla (1935).
