Explore Winston S. Churchill's profound wisdom through inspiring quotes on perseverance and success, witty remarks on politics and society, and thought-provoking words that resonate today. Discover his unique perspective on life, leadership, and the power of words.
Sir Winston Churchill was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice. He represented a total of five constituencies during his career in Parliament and was a member of both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. Born into the wealthy Spencer family, Churchill joined the British Army and gained fame as a war correspondent before entering politics. He held various ministerial positions, including President of the Board of Trade and Home Secretary, and served as First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I. Out of government in the 1930s, Churchill called for rearmament against Nazi Germany and became prime minister at the outbreak of World War II. He led Britain to victory and later received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Churchill is regarded as one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. While he has faced criticism for certain wartime events and his imperialist views, he is widely seen as a successful wartime leader who defended democracy against fascism. Historians often rank him as Britain's greatest prime minister. Additionally, Churchill played an important role in post-war foreign affairs, promoting European unity and warning about Soviet influence. His government focused on housebuilding and completed development of a nuclear weapon. In declining health, Churchill resigned in 1955 but remained an MP until his death in 1965 when he received a state funeral. His legacy continues to be celebrated in the UK and Anglosphere countries.
“No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle.”
My early life, 1874–1904 (1930), Churchill, Winston S., p. 45 (1996 Touchstone Edition), ISBN 0684823454
My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930)
“Although always prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it should be postponed.”
Source: My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930), Chapter 4 (Sandhurst), p. 72.
The Second World War, Volume II : Their Finest Hour (1949) Chapter 8 (September Tensions).
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Variant: We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
In Great Contemporaries, "Alfonso XIII" (1937).
The 1930s
“There is no such thing as a good tax.”
The correct attribution is Oklahoma Senator Thomas Gore, in his speech to the National Tax Association in 1935.. Though it is often attributed to Churchill, there is no evidence he ever said it.
Misattributed
Variant: There is no such thing as a good tax.
Source: http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/there_is_no_such_thing_as_a_good_tax/
Source: http://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-express/1935-10-17/page-2
“Success always demands a greater effort.”
Source: Their Finest Hour
“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.”
From a speech given at the Royal Academy of Art in 1953; quoted in Time magazine (11 May 1954).
Post-war years (1945–1955)
“The POSITIVE THINKER sees the INVISIBLE, feels the INTANGIBLE, and achieves the IMPOSSIBLE.”
Source: My Early Life, 1874-1904
Variant: Mr.Churchill, to what do you attribute your success in life? Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down. And never sit down when you can lie down.
“Americans Will Always Do the Right Thing — After Exhausting All the Alternatives.”
This is a modification of a March 1967 quote by Israeli politician Abba Eban who said, "Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources." Eban used various versions of this quote over the years. In 1979 he said, "My experience teaches me this: Men and nations do act wisely when they have exhausted all the other possibilities." http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/
In a 1970 Congressional hearing, a version of the quote first referenced Americans. It was attributed to an unnamed Irishman. "And indeed, we often know how to do things by the philosophy that was expounded by another Irishman I know. He said that you can depend on Americans to do the right thing when they have exhausted every other possibility." http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/
The earliest known attribution of the quote to Churchill occurred in 1980. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/
Misattributed
“You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.”
Extensive research of writings by and about Churchill at the Churchill Centre http://www.winstonchurchill.org fails to indicate that Churchill ever spoke or wrote those words.
Some sites list Norman MacEwen as the originator of the quote.
Misattributed
Variant: We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
Variant: We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
“I never worry about action, but only about inaction.”
Winston Churchill (Author) and Richard Langworth (Editor) (28. Oktober 2008): Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations. New York: PublicAffairs (1st Edition), page 160. note: See also: 1940s. Passim. Martin Gilbert, The Churchill War Papers, Volume II: Never Surrender, May 1940-December 1940. London: Heinemann, New York: Norton, 1994, page xvi, where Sir Martin writes in his Preface: "Inefficiency, incompetence and negative attitudes roused his ire: I have indicated some examples of this in the Churchill index entry, under “rebukes by.” He did not take kindly to what he called “a drizzle of carping criticism,” or to those officials, military or civilian, who, as he expressed it, “failed to rise to the height of circumstances.” Among his injunctions to his Ministers were, “Don’t let this matter sleep,” and, “I never ‘worry’ about action, but only about inaction.”" note: See also: In a letter, on page 1184 of the above work: Concerning “Operation Compass,” the first major British offensive in North Africa, Churchill wrote to General Dill on 7 December 1940: "If, with the situation as it is, General Wavell is only playing small, and is not hurling on his whole available forces with furious energy, he will have failed to rise to the height of circumstances. I never “worry” about action, but only about inaction." note: Source for all the aforementioned information: Richard M. Langworth (Senior fellow, Hillsdale College Churchill Project, Writer and Historian) (March 4, 2009): Churchill on Action vs. Inaction.
Source: Archived on June 2, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200602062301/https://richardlangworth.com/i-never-worry-about-action-but-only-about-inaction and secured on June 2, 2020 http://archive.is/Xgxu6 from the original https://richardlangworth.com/i-never-worry-about-action-but-only-about-inaction
“We are waiting for the long-promised invasion. So are the fishes.”
Radio broadcast, London, Dieu Protège La France [God protect France], October 21, 1940 ( partial text http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/LaFrance.html).
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Speech in the House of Commons, June 18, 1940 "War Situation" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1940/jun/18/war-situation#column_60.
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Source: Never Give In!: The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches
Context: Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us now. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, 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.
Dates to 1899, American humor origin, originally featuring a woman upset by a man's cigar smoking. Cigar often removed in later versions, coffee added in 1900. Incorrectly attributed in Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Glitter and Gold (1952).
See various early citations and references to refutations at “If you were my husband, I’d poison your coffee” (Nancy Astor to Churchill?) http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_you_were_my_husband_id_poison_your_coffee_nancy_astor_to_churchill, Barry Popik, The Big Apple,' February 09, 2009
Early examples include 19 November 1899, Gazette-Telegraph (CO), "Tales of the Town," p. 7, and early attributions are to American humorists Marshall P. Wilder and De Wolf Hopper.
Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations, by Richard Langworth, PublicAffairs, 2008, p. 578.
The Yale Book of Quotations, edited by Fred R. Shapiro, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 2006, p. 155.
George Thayer, The Washington Post (April 27, 1971), p. B6.
Misattributed
Variant: Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd put arsenic in your morning coffee.
Winston Churchill: Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it.
“This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.”
"Churchill on Prepositions" http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html, and alt.english.usage at google groups http://groups.google.com/group/alt.english.usage/browse_thread/thread/dbf8ed860d953172/d44fbc9923cd662c?q=ben+zimmer+%22The+Strand%22&rnum=2#d44fbc9923cd662c have been the most immediate sources for much of the information which indicates this remark or others like it were probably not remarks actually made by Churchill.
Disputed
Variant: This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.
Context: This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.
Speech in the House of Commons, November 12, 1936 "Debate on the Address" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1936/nov/12/debate-on-the-address#column_1107, criticizing Stanley Baldwin's record on rearmament against Hitler.
The 1930s
Context: Anyone can see what the position is. The Government simply cannot make up their mind, or they cannot get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they 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. So we go on preparing more months and years — precious, perhaps vital to the greatness of Britain — for the locusts to eat.
The People's Rights [1909] (London: Jonathan Cape, 1970), p. 25
Early career years (1898–1929)
"Hitler and His Choice", The Strand Magazine (November 1935), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 681
The 1930s
“The heaviest cross I have to bear is the Cross of Lorraine.”
This remark referring to Charles de Gaulle was actually made by General Edward Louis Spears, Churchill's personal representative to the Free French.
Film producer Alexander Korda asked Churchill in 1948 if he had made the remark, he replied
No, I didn't say it; but I'm sorry I didn't, because it was quite witty … and so true!
Quoted in Nigel Rees, Sayings of the Century p. 105.
Misattributed
“No, bury them in caves and cellars. None must go. We are going to beat them.”
Minute (1 June 1940) in response to the suggestion of Kenneth Clark (Director of the National Gallery) that the National Gallery's paintings should be sent to Canada, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London: Heinemann, 1983), p. 449
The Second World War (1939–1945)
On the Norman conquest of England; Vol I; The Birth of Britain.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58)
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Source: Broadcast (12 November 1939), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London: Heinemann, 1983), p. 81
“The Times is speechless, and takes three columns to express its speechlessness.”
Speech at Kinnaird Hall, Dundee, Scotland ("The Dundee Election"), May 14, 1908, in Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909), Churchill, BiblioBazaar (Second Edition, 2006), p. 148 ISBN 1426451989
Early career years (1898–1929)
Broadcast (8 May 1945) from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Road to Victory: Winston S. Churchill, 1941-1945 (London: Heinemann, 1986), p. 1344
The Second World War (1939–1945)
“…live dangerously; take things as they come; dread naught, all will be well.”
My New York Misadventure, The Daily Mail, 4 and 5 January 1932
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol IV, Churchill at Large, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 94. ISBN 0903988453
The 1930s
Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/oct/05/policy-of-his-majestys-government#column_365 in the House of Commons (5 October 1938) against the Munich Agreement
The 1930s
