Winston S. Churchill book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58)
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.

Winston S. Churchill book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58)
“India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the equator.”
Speech at Royal Albert Hall, London (18 March 1931).
The 1930s
Source: My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930), Chapter 5 (The Fourth Hussars).
At Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, Canada, November 9, 1954 ; as cited at The Churchill Centre http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/quotations/famous-quotations-and-stories. <br class="br">Post-war years (1945–1955)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Broadcast (24 August 1941), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London: Heinemann, 1983), p. 1173
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Part of a speech played on the documentary Timewatch - Russia: A Century of Suspicion.
The Second World War (1939–1945)
“Gentlemen, We Have Run Out Of Money; Now We Have to Think”
This quote, or a minor variation of it ("Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.") is also attributed to (Sir) Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), the famed New Zealand chemist and physicist. http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2011/November/Pages/%E2%80%98Gentlemen,WeHaveRunOutOfMoney;NowWeHavetoThink%E2%80%99.aspx <br class="br">Misattributed
Speech in Horsham (23 July 1936), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 768
The 1930s
Winston S. Churchill book Lord Randolph Churchill
On his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, Chapter 3 (Examinations).
My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
On psychiatrists, in a letter to John Anderson, Lord President of the Council (December 19, 1942)
In The Second World War, Volume IV : The Hinge of Fate (1951), Appendix C.
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Speech in the House of Commons, September 8, 1942 "War Situation" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1942/sep/08/war-situation#column_95. <br class="br">The Second World War (1939–1945)
As Home Secretary in a 1910 Departmental Paper. The original document is in the collection of Asquith's papers at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Also quoted in Clive Ponting, "Churchill" (Sinclair Stevenson 1994).
Early career years (1898–1929)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
The Second World War, Volume 1, The Gathering Storm, Mariner Books (1985), pp. 13-14. First published in 1948.
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1947/mar/06/india-government-policy#column_678 in the House of Commons (6 March 1947) on Indian independence <br class="br">Post-war years (1945–1955)
"Mr. Churchill's Reply" in The Times (7 November 1938).
The 1930s
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Speech in the House of Commons, March 22, 1944 "War Decorations" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/mar/22/war-decorations-and-medals#column_872. <br class="br">The Second World War (1939–1945)
Winston S. Churchill book London to Ladysmith via Pretoria
On the Boer War, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900).
Early career years (1898–1929)
“And now go and set Europe ablaze”
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Entry from Monday 22 July 1940, foundation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Dalton, Hugh (1986). The Second World War Diary of Hugh Dalton 1940-45. Jonathan Cape. p. 62. ISBN 022402065X
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Speech at Théâtre des Ambassadeurs, Paris (24 September 1936), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 788
The 1930s
Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1935/jun/05/government-of-india-bill#column_1920 in the House of Commons (5 June 1935) addressing the Secretary of State for India Samuel Hoare <br class="br">The 1930s
The People's Rights [1909] (London: Jonathan Cape, 1970), p. 154
Early career years (1898–1929)
“The shores of History are strewn with the wrecks of Empires.”
Peopling the Wide, Open Spaces of Empire, News of the World, 22 May 1938
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol IV, Churchill at Large, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 444. ISBN 0903988453
The 1930s
Winston S. Churchill book The World Crisis
The World Crisis, 1911–1914 : Chapter I (The Vials of Wrath), Churchill, Butterworth (1923), pp. 10-11.
Early career years (1898–1929)
“I have nothing to add to the reply which has already been sent.”
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Response to Dundee Council after refusing to expand on his reasons for not accepting the Freedom of the City Memo http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/churchill/6.9.html (October 27, 1943). <br class="br">The Second World War (1939–1945)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Broadcast (17 June 1940), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London: Heinemann, 1983), p. 566
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Speech in the House of Commons, October 24, 1950 "Motion for Address in Reply" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1950/oct/24/motion-for-address-in-reply#column_2707. <br class="br">Post-war years (1945–1955)
G.D. Birla's account of his conversation with Churchill in a letter to Gandhi (September 1935), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 619
The 1930s
Speech at the Albert Hall, London (3 December 1936) at a cross-party meeting organised by the League of Nations Union "in defence of freedom and peace", quoted in The Times (4 December 1936), p. 18
The 1930s
“War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.”
On the Soviet Union’s failure to form a united Balkan front against Hitler ; in The Second World War, Volume III : The Grand Alliance (1950) Chapter 20 (The Soviet Nemesis).
Post-war years (1945–1955)
“Democracy means that if the doorbell rings in the early hours, it is likely to be the milkman.”
Widely quoted and attributed, but without a documented source.
Disputed
Speech in Edinburgh (25 September 1924), quoted in The Times (26 September 1924), p. 14
Early career years (1898–1929)
18 February 1955, WSC to Eden’s private secretary Evelyn Shuckburgh.
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Source: My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930), Chapter 3 (Examinations).
'How I Would Procure Peace', Daily Mail (9 July 1934), quoted in Martin Gilbert, The Churchill Documents, Volume 12: The Wilderness Years, 1929–1935 (Michigan: Hillsdale Press, 2012), p. 825, n. 3
The 1930s
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Speech in the House of Commons, October 28, 1943 "House of Commons Rebuilding" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1943/oct/28/house-of-commons-rebuilding#column_403. <br class="br">The Second World War (1939–1945)
On the Polish defense against Germany, in The Second World War, Volume I : The Gathering Storm (1948).
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Speech in the House of Commons, July 7, 1926 "Emergency Services" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1926/jul/07/emergency-services#column_2218 ; at this time, Churchill was serving as Chancellor of the Excheqer under Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. <br class="br">Threatening the Labour Party and trade union movement with a return of the Government-published newspaper he edited during that May's General Strike. <br class="br">Early career years (1898–1929)
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Radio broadcast (22 June 1941) on the day Germany invaded the Soviet Union, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London: Heinemann, 1983), pp. 1120-1121
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1933/mar/14/supply#column_1820 in the House of Commons (14 March 1933) <br class="br">The 1930s
Letter to Robert Cecil (9 April 1936), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 722
The 1930s
Letter to Maurice Ashley (12 April 1939) on his work on A History of the English Speaking Peoples, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 1063
The 1930s
“We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.”
Lecture at Cleveland, Ohio (February 3, 1932), reported in Robert Rhodes James, ed., Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963 (1974), vol. 5, p. 5130; referring to the theory that over-production caused the Depression.
The 1930s
Winston S. Churchill book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
On the landing of William the Conqueror at Pevensey; Vol I; The Birth of Britain.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–58)
Reported in James C. Humes, Speaker's Treasury of Anecdotes About the Famous (1978), p. 45, as a remark made in the House of Commons responding to a Laborite speech on the evils of free enterprise; reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989).
Disputed
Winston S. Churchill book The World Crisis
The World Crisis, 1916-1918 Part II : Chapter XXIII (Victory), Churchill, Butterworth (1927), p. 544.
Early career years (1898–1929)
In The Second World War, Volume V : Closing the Ring (1952) Chapter 12 (Island Prizes Lost).
Post-war years (1945–1955)
"Election Memories", The Strand Magazine (September 1931).
Reproduced in Thoughts and Adventures, 1932.
The 1930s
“People often forget that in 1940 there was no guarantee that we were going to win.”
This quote is actually from Churchill's daughter, Lady Soames. See "The Beacon of the Western Way of Life" http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=135 <br class="br">Misattributed
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Broadcast (4 June 1945) for the 1945 general election, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Never Despair': Winston S. Churchill, 1945–1965 (London: Heinemann, 1988), p. 33
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Speech in Edinburgh (25 September 1924), quoted in The Times (26 September 1924), p. 14
Early career years (1898–1929)