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
I have not become the Kings First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.
—Winston Churchill
Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Courage
Everyone can recognize history when it happens. Everyone can recognize history after is has happened; but only the wise man knows at the moment what is vital and permanent, what is lasting and memorable.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: History
History is written by the victors.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: One liners, History
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Liberalism
We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Humility, Believe, Individuality, Courage
Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths without giving offense.
—Winston Churchill
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: Victory
If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Future, Time Management, Time, The Present
Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Revenge, Vengeance
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.”
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Heroism, Heroes, Adversity
Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Bravery, Courage, Jobs
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.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Government, Decisions
At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man walking into the little booth with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper. No amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Democracy
The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Problems, Success is not everything, Victory, Defeat
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: Love, Believe, Inspiration, Leadership, Greatness, Character
If we win, nobody will care. If we lose, there will be nobody to care.
—Winston Churchill
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Victory, Attitude
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
There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Conscience
Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Heroes, Guilt, Conflict
When I look back on all the worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Worry
Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Presidency
Socialists think profits are a vice; I consider losses the real vice.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Communism, Socialism
I was very glad that Mr. Attlee described my speeches in the war as expressing the will not only of Parliament but of the whole nation. Their will was resolute and remorseless and, as it proved, unconquerable. It fell to me to express it, and if I found the right words you must remember that I have always earned my living by my pen and by my tongue. It was a nation and race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Inspiration
The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are often no longer strong.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Leadership, Confidence, History, Self Confidence, Nation
There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Lies, Deception/Lying
We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Mercy
Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Purpose, Intentions
These are not dark days: these are great days—the greatest days our country has ever lived.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Optimism
Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Golf
I never worry about action, but only about inaction.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Action, Worry
We must all turn our backs upon the horrors of the past. We must look to the future. We cannot afford to drag forward across the years that are to come the hatreds and revenges which have sprung from the injuries of the past.
—Winston Churchill
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Public opinion
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Opinion, Opinions
There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Change
We must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible. Our qualities and deeds must burn and glow through the gloom of Europe until they become the veritable beacon of its salvation.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Man
Twenty to twenty-five! These are the years! Don’t be content with things as they are. Don’t take No for an answer. Never submit to failure. Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance. You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. She was made to be wooed and won by youth. She has lived and thrived only by repeated subjugations.
—Winston Churchill
Topics: Failure
I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and Fact.
—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
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