Quotes

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was a British politician, army officer, and writer, serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He was also an impressionist painter.

''Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.''

''Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.''

''If you're going through hell, keep going.''

''Never, never, never give up.''

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

I am easily satisfied with the very best.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

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.

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else.

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.

Lady Astor: "Winston, if I were your wife I'd put poison in your coffee."
Winston Churchill: "Nancy, if I were your husband I'd drink it."

"There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you." 

"A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.

And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."

''Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart.
S

how me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains."

"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes." 

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy."