Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874–1965) was a British political leader who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom 1940–45 and 1951–55. He is best remembered for his opposition to the pacification of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, for his inspiring leadership during World War II, and his forewarnings about Soviet expansionism.
Born at the Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Churchill entered the army in 1895 and served in India, Egypt, and Sudan. He was a war correspondent during the Boer War before entering Parliament in 1900. He became prime minister in 1940 and allied with the U.S. to defeat the Axis Powers. He was an exceptional orator whose wartime speeches, broadcast over the radio in his deep voice, included many well-known passages.
Churchill was defeated in the 1945 general elections. He used his standing to warn of the dangers of Soviet expansionism in his famous “Iron Curtain” speech delivered at Fulton, Missouri, USA. He also called for European reconciliation and spoke in support of the nascent United Europe movement.
Churchill was elected prime minister for a second term in 1951; he retired from the premiership in 1955 but remained in Parliament until 1964.
Beyond politics, Churchill was a prolific author of history and biography; he was often assisted by secretaries and researchers. His notable works include The Second World War (1948–53) and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58.) Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Winston Churchill
Judged by every standard which history has applied to Governments, the Soviet Government of Russia is one of the worst tyrannies that has ever existed in the world. It accords no political rights. It rules by terror. It punishes political opinions. It suppresses free speech. It tolerates no newspapers but its own. It persecutes Christianity with a zeal and a cunning never equalled since the times of the Roman Emperors. It is engaged at this moment in trampling down the peoples of Georgia and executing their leaders by hundreds.
—Winston Churchill
Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Courage, Bravery
If we win, nobody will care. If we lose, there will be nobody to care.
—Winston Churchill
Never does a man portray his character more vividly than his proclaiming the character of another.
—Winston Churchill
I must point out … that 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, and like to be told that they are very likely to get much worse in the future and must prepare themselves for further reverses.
—Winston Churchill
Nothing will bring American sympathy along with us so much as American blood shed in the field.
—Winston Churchill
I am most anxious that in dealing with matters which every Member knows are extremely delicate matters, I should not use any phrase or expression which would cause offence to our friends and Allies on the Continent or across the Atlantic Ocean.
—Winston Churchill
No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle.
—Winston Churchill
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Success & Failure, Failure, Success, Perseverance
It is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future. Still, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will for their own safety and for the good of all walk together side by side in majesty, in justice, and in peace.
—Winston Churchill
You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Giving, Charity, Sacrifice
Everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be made like this?
—Winston Churchill
The difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that a pessimist sees problems in opportunities whereas an optimist sees opportunities in problems.
—Winston Churchill
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 gongthese are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.
—Winston Churchill
Success is never final.
—Winston Churchill
Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Leadership, Character, Love, Greatness, Believe
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. 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.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Commitment, Realistic Expectations, Sacrifice, Bravery, Success, Courage, Dedication
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.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Beliefs, Perseverance, Resolve, Commitment, Courage, Endurance
Writing a long and substantial book is like having a friend and companion at your side, to whom you can always turn for comfort and amusement, and whose society becomes more attractive as a new and widening field of interest is lighted in the mind.
—Winston Churchill
Of course, when you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.
—Winston Churchill
The gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship.
—Winston Churchill
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
—Winston Churchill
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Courage
I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial… I thought I knew a good deal about it all, I was sure I should not fail.
—Winston Churchill
We are happier in many ways when we are old than when we were young. The young sow wild oats. The old grow sage.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Age, Aging
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.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Criticism, Adversity
One woman who managed to corner him, the story runs, said in a treacly gushing voice: Doesn’t it thrill you, Mr. Churchill, to know that every time you make a speech the hall is packed to overflowing? It is quite flattering, Mr. Churchill replied, but whenever I feel this way I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big.
—Winston Churchill
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Virtues, Virtue, People
We have all seen with a sense of nausea the abject, squalid, shameless avowal made in the Oxford Union. We are told that we ought not to treat it seriously. The Times talked of the childrens hour. I disagree. It is a very disquieting and disgusting symptom. One can almost feel the curl of contempt upon the lips of the manhood of Germany, Italy, and France when they read the message sent out by Oxford University in the name of Young England. Let them be assured that it is not the last word. But before they blame, as blame they should, these callow ill-tutored youths, they must be sure that they have not been set a bad example by people much older and much higher up.
—Winston Churchill
Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.
—Winston Churchill
Let me have the best solution worked out. Don’t argue the matter. The difficulties will argue for themselves.
—Winston Churchill
A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
—Winston Churchill
I wonder whether any other generation has seen such astounding revolutions of data and values as those through which we have lived. Scarcely anything material or established which I was brought up to believe was permanent and vital, has lasted. Everything I was sure or taught to be sure was impossible, has happened.
—Winston Churchill
The only guide to man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Conscience
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Virtues, Courage, Bravery
I confess myself to be a great admirer of tradition. The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.
—Winston Churchill
We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.
—Winston Churchill
When I warned them the French that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken. Some chicken! Some neck!
—Winston Churchill
There is a hush over all Europe, nay, over all the world. Alas! it is the hush of suspense, and in many lands it is the hush of fear. Listen! No, listen carefully, I think I hear somethingyes, there it was quite clear. Don’t you hear it? It is the tramp of armies crunching the gravel of the paradegrounds, splashing through rain-soaked fields, the tramp of two million German soldiers and more than a million Italiansgoing on maneuversyes, only on maneuvers!
—Winston Churchill
Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Courage
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