Winston Churchill (1874–1965,) fully Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 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 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Winston Churchill
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: Resolve, Perseverance, Give, Beliefs, Endurance, Courage, Commitment
Let your advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Thinking, Worry, Think, Yin, Become
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.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Opportunity
Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Learning
You ask what the aim is? I tell you it is victory…total victory.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Victory
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Alcohol, Alcoholism
Haven’t you learned yet that I put something more than whisky into my speeches.
—Winston Churchill
Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Character
We have a lot of anxieties, and one cancels out another very often.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Worry, Anxiety
Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Vengeance, Revenge
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
It helps to write down half a dozen things which are worrying me. Two of them, say, disappear; about two of them nothing can be done, so it’s no use worrying; and two perhaps can be settled.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Worry
Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Business, Capitalism
Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Jobs, Bravery, Courage
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.’
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Quotations
Thus, then, on the night of the tenth of May, at the outset of this mighty battle, I acquired the chief power in the State, which henceforth I wielded in ever-growing measure for five years and three months of world war, at the end of which time, all our enemies having surrendered unconditionally or being about to do so, I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs.
—Winston Churchill
Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Fame
This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.
—Winston Churchill
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: America, Americans
I confess myself to be a great admirer of tradition. The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.
—Winston Churchill
It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Honesty
No two on earth in all things can agree. All have some daring singularity.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Agreement
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Authors & Writing
It is all right to rat, but you can’t re-rat.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Betrayal, Loyalty
Never, never, never give in.
—Winston Churchill
Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: War
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
—Winston Churchill
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.
—Winston Churchill
Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He just looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Animals
Any 20 year-old who isn’t a liberal doesn’t have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn’t a conservative doesn’t have a brain.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Politicians, Politics
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Harold Macmillan British Head of State
David Lloyd George British Liberal Statesman
Ramsay MacDonald British Head of State
Margaret Thatcher British Head of State
Neville Chamberlain British Head of State
William Ewart Gladstone English Liberal Statesman
E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax British Politician
Benjamin Disraeli British Head of State
Dwight D. Eisenhower American Head of State
Enoch Powell British Politician