Winston Churchill
519 quotes
Biography
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, military officer, politician and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. For some 62 of the years between 1900 and 1964, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) and represented a total of five constituencies over that time.
"Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."
"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
"Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse."
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
"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."
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
"My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best."
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
"Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip."
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."
"Never, never, never give in!"
"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it."
"For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use to be anything else."
"Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."
"Don't interrupt me while I'm interrupting."
"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."
"If you cannot read all your books...fondle them---peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances."
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."
"To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour."
"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber."
"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."
"Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public."
"Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have."
"Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened."
"When you get a thing the way you want it, leave it alone."