"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.
Child Psychology and Nonsense (15 October 1921)
"Benedict Cumberbatch: “Techno was my bag at uni – I went clubbing a lot”" in NME https://www.nme.com/features/film-interviews/benedict-cumberbatch-interview-radiohead-the-power-of-the-dog-3097698 (18 November 2021)
“I just can’t sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it’s nonsense.”
Scientific American Vol. 288, Issue 4 (2003), p. 54
As quoted in "Author Isn't Just a Cat in the Hat" by Miles Corwin in The Los Angeles Times (27 November 1983); also in Dr. Seuss: American Icon (2004) by Philip Nel, p. 38
Context: Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It's more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”
Variant: I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
“Now days battles are just sort of a "You shoot up my town and I'll shoot up yours."”
Letter to Bess Wallace (8 September 1918) https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/ww1/documents/fulltext.php?documentid=1-15
Context: Now days battles are just sort of a "You shoot up my town and I'll shoot up yours." They say that Americans don't play fair. They shoot 'em up all the time. I hope so because I want to finish this job as soon as possible and begin making an honest living again... Have fired 500 rounds at the Germans, at my command, been shelled, didn't run away thank the Lord and never lost a man. Probably shouldn't have told you but you'll not worry any more if you know I'm in it than if you think I am. Have had the most strenuous work of my life, am very tired but otherwise absolutely in good condition physically mentally and morally... When a High Explosive shell bursts in fifteen feet and does you no damage, you can bet your sweet life you bear a charmed life and no mistake. I didn't have sense enough to know what was going on until the next day and then I was pretty scared. The men think I am not much afraid of shells but they don't know. I was too scared to run and that is pretty scared.
Source: Blues of a Lifetime: The Autobiography of Cornell Woolrich
