Winston S. Churchill Quotes
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601 Quotes for Perseverance, Success, and Thought-Provoking Wisdom

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.

✵ 30. November 1874 – 24. January 1965
Winston S. Churchill photo
Winston S. Churchill: 601   quotes 74   likes

Winston S. Churchill Quotes

“We have differed and quarrelled in the past but now one bond unites us all—to wage war until victory is won, and never to surrender ourselves to servitude and shame, whatever the cost and the agony must be.”

Broadcast (19 May 1940), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London: Heinemann, 1983), p. 364
The Second World War (1939–1945)

“The contrast between the morals at the centre of power and those practiced by wide communities in many subject lands presented problems of ever growing unrest.”

On the last years of Rome and Roman Britain; Vol I; The Birth of Britain.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58)

“First, Poland has been again overrun by two of the great powers which held her in bondage for 150 years but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation. The heroic defence of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible, and that she will rise again like a rock which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave but which remains a rock.”

BBC broadcast (“The Russian Enigma”), London, October 1, 1939 ( First Month of War (excerpt) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Et45bs95I, transcript of the full text https://ww2memories.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/churchills-ww2-speech-to-the-nation-october-1939/).
The Second World War (1939–1945)

“Eaten bread is soon forgotten. Dangers which are warded off by effective precautions and foresight are never even remembered.”

The World Crisis, 1911–1914 : Chapter XVII (The Grand Fleet and the Submarine Alarm), Churchill, Butterworth (1923), p. 399.
Early career years (1898–1929)

“We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.”

Radio broadcast http://books.google.com/books?id=_YBkWL9XBfcC&q=%22We+do+not+covet+anything+from+any+nation+except+their+respect%22&pg=PA403#v=onepage to German occupied, Vichy, and Free France (21 October 1940)
The Second World War (1939–1945)

“I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire.”

Speech in the House of Commons, July 7, 1926 "Emergency Services" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1926/jul/07/emergency-services#column_2216, responding to criticism that he edited the British Gazette in a biased manner during the General Strike, as cited in The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), ed. Fred R. Shapiro, Yale University Press, p. 152 ISBN 0300107986
Early career years (1898–1929)

“The traditional British view is that character is what matters in a general. They like a solid, simple man, with no newfangled nonsense about him. He should be preternaturally silent. If by chance he thinks at all he should not let this leak out, otherwise confidence would be destroyed.”

Today's Battles. Collier's, 7 October 1939.
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol I, Churchill at War, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 487. ISBN 0903988429
The Second World War (1939–1945)

“He ought to be lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi, and then trampled on by an enormous elephant with the new Viceroy seated on its back.”

Referring to Mahatma Gandhi in conversation with Edwin Montagu, Secretary of State for India, 1921.
Early career years (1898–1929)
Source: Barczewsk, Stephanie, John Eglin, Stephen Heathorn, Michael Silvestri, and Michelle Tusan. Britain Since 1688: A Nation in the World, p. 301
Source: Toye, Richard. Churchill's Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made, p. 172

“[Magna Carta provided] “a system of checks and balances which would accord the monarchy its necessary strength, but would prevent its perversion by a tyrant or a fool.””

Magna Carta and Man’s Quest for Freedom, JW.org http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102002924?q=Churchill&p=par
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“Everyone can see the arguments against the English-speaking peoples becoming the policemen of the world.”

To End War, Collier's, 29 June 1935
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol I, Churchill at War, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 351-2. ISBN 0903988429
The 1930s

“The truth is that Gandhi-ism and all it stands for will, sooner or later, have to be grappled with, and finally crushed. It is no use trying to satisfy a tiger by feeding him with cat's-meat. The sooner this is realised, the less trouble and misfortune will there be for all concerned.”

Speech in Cannon Street Hotel, London (12 December 1930) at the first public meeting of the Indian Empire Society, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 377
The 1930s

“I think it is the most important subject facing this country, but I cannot get any of my ministers to take any notice.”

To Sir Ian Gilmour on Commonwealth immigration to England in 1955, quoted in Ian Gilmour, Inside Right (Hutchinson, 1977), p. 134
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“Mr. Gladstone read Homer for fun, which I thought served him right.”

Source: My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930), Chapter 2 (Harrow).

“The fascists of the future will be called anti-fascists.”

According to research, it has been attributed to Churchill since the 21st century. A similar variation has been attributed to Huey Long a year after he expired, but it’s unclear if he said it either. Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/04/anti-fascism/ Source: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/9-quotes-from-winston-churchill-that-are-totally-fake-1790585636 Variants: The Fascists of the future will be the anti-fascists. The Swiss author François Bondy attributed a similar quote to Ignazio Silone: This reminded me of what Ignazio Silone said in 1945 soon after he returned to Italy from his Zurich exile: "The Fascism of tomorrow will never say 'I am Fascism.' It will say: 'I am anti-Fascism.'" Alternatively quoted as: When I met him in Geneva on the day of his scheduled return home after the long exile in Switzerland, Silone said abruptly: "If at a future moment fascism will return, it will not be so stupid as to say: 'I am fascism.' It will say: 'I am antifascism.'" Source: François Bondy (1976), "European Notebook", Encounter, vol. 47, p. 51. Source: François Bondy (1979), "Ignazio Silone: In Memoriam", The Washington Quarterly, vol. 2, issue 2.


Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/04/anti-fascism/

Source: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/9-quotes-from-winston-churchill-that-are-totally-fake-1790585636
Misattributed

“The conditions of the Transvaal ordinance under which Chinese Labour is now being carried on do not, in my opinion, constitute a state of slavery. A labour contract into which men enter voluntarily for a limited and for a brief period, under which they are paid wages which they consider adequate, under which they are not bought or sold and from which they can obtain relief on payment of seventeen pounds ten shillings, the cost of their passage, may not be a healthy or proper contract, but it cannot in the opinion of His Majesty's Government be classified as slavery in the extreme acceptance of the word without some risk of terminological inexactitude.”

In the House of Commons, February 22, 1906 "King’s Speech (Motion for an Address)" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1906/feb/22/kings-speech-motion-for-an-address#column_555, as Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office, repeating what he had said during the 1906 election campaign. This is the original context for terminological inexactitude, used simply literally, whereas later the term took on the sense of a euphemism or circumlocution for a lie. As quoted in Sayings of the Century (1984) by Nigel Rees.
Early career years (1898–1929)

“It must be very painful to a man of Lord Hugh Cecil's natural benevolence and human charity to find so many of God's children wandering simultaneously so far astray … In these circumstances I would venture to suggest to my noble friend, whose gifts and virtues I have all my life admired, that some further refinement is needed in the catholicity of his condemnations.”

Letter to The Times on 12 May 1936, responding to Lord Cecil equally denouncing Italy, France, Japan, the USSR, and Germany; Churchill said that the French did not deserve as much criticism as the others. Quoted by John Gunther in Inside Europe (1940), p. 329.
The 1930s

“When I warned them 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!
Reference to the French government; speech before Joint Session of the Canadian Parliament, Ottawa http://listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=TJrQuKlktv8#Winston_Churchill__Some_Chicken%2C_Some_Neck_ (December 30, 1941)
The Yale Book of Quotations, ed. Fred R. Shapiro, Yale University Press (2006), p. 153 ISBN 0300107986
The Second World War (1939–1945)

“A sheep in sheep's clothing.”

On Ramsay MacDonald. This is often taken as referring to Clement Attlee, but Scottish historian D. W. Brogan is cited in Safire’s Political Dictionary (2008), William Safire, Oxford University Press US, p. 352 ISBN 0195343344 as follows: ‘Sir Winston Churchill never said of Clement Attlee that he was a sheep in sheep’s clothing. I have this on the excellent authority of Sir Winston himself. The phrase was totally inapplicable to Mr. Attlee. It was applicable, and applied, to J. Ramsay MacDonald, a very different kind of Labour leader.’
Early career years (1898–1929)

“The wars fanned the wings of science, and science brought to mankind a thousand blessings, a thousand problems and a thousand perils.”

This Age of Government by Great Dictators, News of the World, 10 October 1937
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol IV, Churchill at Large, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 395. ISBN 0903988453
The 1930s

“Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.”

"Armistice - or Peace?", published in The Evening Standard (11 November 1937).
The 1930s

“The object of Parliament is to substitute argument for fisticuffs.”

Speech in the House of Commons (June 6, 1951) ; in Churchill by Himself (2008), ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, p. 22 ISBN 1586486381
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all Parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.”

Speech in the House of Commons (January 23, 1948), cited in The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), Fred R. Shapiro, Yale University Press, p. 154 ISBN 0300107986
This quote may be the basis for a statement often attributed to Churchill : History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it.
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“Men who take up arms against the State must expect at any moment to be fired upon. Men who take up arms unlawfully cannot expect that the troops will wait until they are quite ready to begin the conflict.”

Speech in the House of Commons, July 8, 1920 "Amritsar" http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/churchill/am-text.htm ; at the time, Churchill was serving as Secretary of State for War under Prime Minister David Lloyd George
Early career years (1898–1929)

“Bessie Braddock: Winston, you are drunk, and what's more you are disgustingly drunk.
Churchill: Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and, what's more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”

Churchill's bodyguard Ronald Golding claims that he witnessed Churchill say this in 1946 to Labour MP w:Bessie Braddock. Golding's claim, made to Churchill expert Richard Langworth, was reported in Langworth's collection Churchill by himself https://books.google.com/books?id=vbsU21fEhLAC&q=braddock#v=snippet&q=braddock&f=false. Langworth adds that Churchill's daughter Lady Soames doubted the story.
The basic idea of this joke was published as early as 1882, although it was used to ridicule the critic's foolishness rather than ugliness: " ... are you Mr. —-, the greatest fool in the House of Commons?" "You are drunk," exclaimed the M.P. "Even if I am,” replied the man, "I have the advantage over you – I shall be sober to-morrow, whereas you will remain the fool you are to-day." (1882 August 05, The Daily Republican-Sentinel, His Advantage, p. 5, col. 2, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, cited by Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/08/17/sober-tomorrow/).
Reported as false by George Thayer, The Washington Post (April 27, 1971), p. B6.
Often given in a shorter form, e.g " Winston, you are drunk." "Indeed, Madam, and you are ugly—but tomorrow I'll be sober."
Churchill's interlocutor may be given as Lady Astor rather than Braddock.
Disputed

“Every morn brought forth a noble chance, and every chance brought forth a noble knight.”

Speech in the House of Commons, June 4, 1940; passage praising the airmen of the Royal Air Force and their efforts during the evacuation of Dunkirk. This is a close paraphrase of Tennyson:
When every morning brought a noble chance,
And every chance brought out a noble knight.
Alfred Tennyson, "Morte d'Arthur" http://home.att.net/~TennysonPoetry/mort.htm, stanza 23 (1842), and the expanded "The Passing of Arthur", stanza 36 in Idylls of the King (1856–1885)
The Second World War (1939–1945)

“All this contains much that is obviously true, and much that is relevant; unfortunately, what is obviously true is not relevant, and what is relevant is not obviously true.”

This is not by Churchill, but a paraphrase of Churchill quoting Arthur James Balfour in Great Contemporaries (1937): 'there were some things that were true, and some things that were trite; but what was true was trite, and what was not trite was not true' .
Misattributed

“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”

Remarks at a White House luncheon (26 June 1954)
Quoted in Churchill Urges Patience in Coping with Red Dangers, The New York Times, June 27, 1954 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A10FE3458117A93C5AB178DD85F408585F9,
Has been falsely attributed to Otto von Bismarck.
But Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, speaking of this quote, noted that Churchill actually said, "Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war." Four years later, during a visit to Australia, Harold Macmillan said the words usually—and wrongly—attributed to Churchill: “Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.” Credit: Harold Macmillan.
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Source: https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/

“The Russians will sweep through your country and your people will be liquidated. You are on the verge of annihiliation.”

The Second World War (1939–1945)
Source: To Stanisław Mikołajczyk in Moscow, October 14, 1944. Quoted in Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War (2008) by Patrick J Buchanan, p. 380.

“Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death.”

Have You a Hobby?, Answers, 21 April 1934

Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol IV, Churchill at Large, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 288. ISBN 0903988453
The 1930s

“Take away that pudding – it has no theme.”

As cited in Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject (2010), ed. Susan Ratcliffe, Oxford University Press, p. 193 : ISBN 0199567069 ; reported in The Way the Wind Blows (1976), Lord Home, Quadrangle, p. 217.
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“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.”

Ending of the Speech to a joint session of the United States Congress, Washington, D.C. (26 December 1941); reported in Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963, ed. Robert Rhodes James (1974), vol. 6, p. 6541. The Congressional Record reports that this speech was followed by "Prolonged applause, the Members of the Senate and their guests rising"; Congressional Record, vol. 87, p. 10119.
The Second World War (1939–1945)