Top 25 Winston Churchill Quotes
Published on November 22, 2007 - 48 Comments
Winston Churchill was not just a great politician, he was also a great orator. Though he is now dead, his legacy lives on in the many humorous and insightful quotes he left behind. Here is a selection of just 25.
Quotes 1 - 5
1. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
2. There is no such thing as a good tax.
3. Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.
4. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
5. We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Quotes 6 - 10
6. An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile—hoping it will eat him last.
7. The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult.
8. From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.
9. A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
10. Nancy Astor: “Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”
Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”
Quotes 11 - 15
11. A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
12. Once in a while you will stumble upon the truth but most of us manage to pick ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened.
13. If you are going to go through hell, keep going.
14. It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
15. You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Quotes 16 - 20
16. If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.
17. You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.
18. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
19. The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.
20. I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Quotes 21 - 25
21. The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
22. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
23. To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
24. Politics is 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.
25. Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.
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1. Gravy - November 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 am
OH SNAP!! First Comment!!
WOW Churchy, why the mean look?!?
2. jfrater - November 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 am
Gravy: I think it was naturally occurring
3. heavybison - November 22nd, 2007 at 11:45 am
I think someone mentioned something about a cigar being snatched away by the photographer or somethin’
4. justin - November 22nd, 2007 at 11:48 am
This man was awesome. If only we had people like that in power now days. The world would be a far better place
5. JMurf - November 22nd, 2007 at 11:54 am
Gallipoli…..
6. Patrask - November 22nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Forgot this one. Not an exact quote, but I’m not in the mood to search for it.
Unknown: You, sir, are drunk.
Church: Yes, madam, I am. But in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly.
7. aplspud - November 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Read about debate on #8 here
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html
The link to the Google Groups thread with Ben Zimmer’s research is too cumbersome to post.
I love #17, btw
8. jfrater - November 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Patrask: that is on one of the other lists on the site
aplspud: he was a true master - I particularly love the “preposition” issue.
9. bootlicker - November 22nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Patrask — you sure that’s not Groucho Marx
Of course Groucho may have stolen it, he often stole from Twain.
Anyone notice there are no great orators anymore? This list and the Oscar Wilde list remind me of that. I think the last really quotable person was JFK (or his speechwriters).
10. Shabab - November 22nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Fantastic stuff…..Very very hard to believe that this guy was a polititian given all the supreme dumbc*nts we have these days….
11. mklong - November 22nd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
they just dont make em like they use to
12. Juggz - November 22nd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
10. Nancy Astor: “Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”
Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”
BEST QUOTE EVER!
13. Choocher - November 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Check out pic 3, folks, then pic 2. Anyone thinking what I’m thinking? James Gandolfini is the perfect choice for a Churchill biopic!
“Oh. Dese ah de times dat try men’s souls.”
“Weh gunnah fight de Joimans in de ehh, on de ground, at de Bing, all ovuh Nohth Joisey. Well nevuh surrenduh owah gahbeegoo!”
We’re already talking with Edie Falco to play Queen Elizabeth.
14. Diogenes - November 22nd, 2007 at 7:43 pm
i dont know, maybe its my american dumbness of the english language, but these churchhill quotes dont quite cut it. its no throw of mud against the list producer, its more the equalized field of thought that puts out a team of writers for any public figure which has a soapbox to stand on in this time. There are a few here that may stick out past our deaths and deaths to come but It’s kinda hard to go with greatess here.
I kinda wish all humans had recorded moments of verbalized grand funk that was loged in ink within the oficial archives…wherever that may be.
15. Choocher - November 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Diogenes, you dog, your search for an honest man is over. It is indeed your ‘american dumbness’. its no throw of mud against you, you may still achieve greatess, if your verbalized grand funk becomes loged in with a tad more coherency.
16. Diogenes - November 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
yeh? wha? Tis the hour of the bell that howls from the bowls and within this darkness the wringing twirl of the misquito thats flipping it’s glitter apon the very knob that I worry so.
17. Kelsi - November 22nd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Bootlicker: I am, in fact, a great orator. The only problem is that I am not famous enough to talk to anyone worth listening.
…just kidding. =p
I love #9. Overall though, there’s just so much wisdom in these quotes. I love reading quotations. I somehow feel that if I read enough of them, I will eventually become as elegant and wise as those who spoke them originally. (Being elegant and wise is my goal in life.)
18. bootlicker - November 22nd, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Kelsi: I’m a great orator as well. Unfortunately, my dog, Sadie, is the only witness to my wisdom
A list of great Mark Twain quotes would be cool. My favorite: “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
- Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar
or
Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.
- Mark Twain, a Biography
19. jfrater - November 23rd, 2007 at 12:56 am
bootlicker: good idea - I will not down Mark Twain for another list of quotes.
kelsi: I feel the same way - unfortunately it hasn’t seemed to have rubbed off yet
20. clovis sangral - November 23rd, 2007 at 1:02 am
Woman on Street: Sir, you are drunk; very, very drunk.
Winston Churchill: Madame, you are ugly; very, very ugly.
I shall be sober in the morning.
21. clovis sangral - November 23rd, 2007 at 1:04 am
A fanatic is a person who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
- Winston Churchill
22. jfrater - November 23rd, 2007 at 1:21 am
Clovis: the actual text of the one you put in comment 20 is:
Lady Nancy Astor (to Churchill): “Sir, you’re drunk!”
Churchill: “Yes, Madam, I am. But in the morning, I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”
23. jfrater - November 23rd, 2007 at 1:21 am
clovis: oh - also - the second quote you put in is perfect for some of the comments we have had on other lists
24. smac - November 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 am
I especially like #15 and #20. He seemed to know where his place in history was - as well as how much of an ass he could be.
25. clovis sangral - November 23rd, 2007 at 2:28 am
Sieg Heil!… oops… wrong list
26. Late O’Day - November 23rd, 2007 at 11:01 pm
“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend… if you have one.”
– George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.”
– Winston Churchill, in response
27. James Frazer - November 24th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
He was a great war-time leader, but he was terrible during peacetime. His charisma made him a leader during war, but he couldn’t handle the boring everyday work usually associated with a PM, which was partly why he was ousted from office after the war (and he was also in poor health)
28. Harbottle - November 25th, 2007 at 7:32 am
I think the correct wording is:
Nancy Astor: “Winston, if I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee.”
Winston Churchill: “Nancy, if I were your husband I would drink it.”
29. bobfoot - November 25th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
“Never pass up the chance to sit down or go to the bathroom.”
30. DiLeo - November 26th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
i am related to churchill
31. Libertine - November 27th, 2007 at 9:27 am
You forgot his greatest quote of all:
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
32. Jim - November 30th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Asked what he did for exercise, Churchill replied,”Whenever I feel the urge to exercise, I sit down and wait until the urge passes.”
33. Hamelaar - December 7th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Love this one as well:
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”
34. Hannah Martens - December 9th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas.
I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected.
–Winston S. Churchill: departmental minute (Churchill papers: 16/16) 12 May 1919 War Office
35. Hannah Martens - December 9th, 2007 at 9:43 am
If the British left, “India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages”.
An entry of September 1942 in the Amery diaries reads: “During my talk with Winston he burst out with: `I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion’.” A year later, when the question of grain being sent to the victims of the Bengal famine came up in a Cabinet meeting, Churchill intervened with a “flourish on Indians breeding like rabbits and being paid a million a day by us for doing nothing by us about the war.”
36. Hannah Martens - December 9th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Churchill’s attitude toward the Fascist dictators was ambiguous. In 1931 he warned against the League of Nations opposing the Japanese in Manchuria “I hope we shall try in England to understand the position of Japan an ancient state…On the one side they have the dark menace of Soviet Russia. On the other the chaos of China four or five provinces of which are being tortured under Communist rule”.
37. Hannah Martens - December 9th, 2007 at 9:58 am
In 1937 in his book “Great Contemporaries”, Churchill wrote: “If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable (as Hitler) to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations”. Speaking in the House of Commons, 1937 he said “I will not pretend that, if I had to choose between communism and Nazism, I would choose communism”. In the same work, Churchill expressed a hope that despite Hitler’s apparent dictatorial tendencies, he would use his power to rebuild Germany into a worthy member of the world community. “One may dislike Hitler’s system and yet admire his patriotic achievements. If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations” - From ‘Great Contemporaries’, 1937.
38. Hannah Martens - December 9th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Not all were impressed by his oratory. Robert Menzies, who was the Prime Minister of Australia, said during World War II of Churchill: “His real tyrant is the glittering phrase so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way.” Another associate wrote: “He is . . . the slave of the words which his mind forms about ideas. . . . And he can convince himself of almost every truth if it is once allowed thus to start on its wild career through his rhetorical machinery.”
39. Hannah Martens - December 9th, 2007 at 10:55 am
“The power of the Executive to cast a man in prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist.”
-Winston Churchill
40. T - February 29th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I think this was Churchill:
“Democracy is the worst form of government…except for all the others.”
41. warningdontreadthis - April 11th, 2008 at 4:45 am
ok where is
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
?
42. Don Bee - May 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
I thought the quote re: drun…ugly was made by the well known fellow who was said to abhor children and was often caricaturized with a walking cane, top hat, and red nose. ?????
43. dave - July 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 pm
who knows the quote’” I would give the devil himself at least a favorable reference in the house of commons….. hitler
44. steve - July 7th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
the best churchill speach has to be;
winston churchill,,
”we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills,
but we shall never surrender !!”
45. gabyvhenteciete - July 19th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Great quotes from such a great man! I wish we have a statesman like Winston Churchill nowadays.
Still the best quote from Churchill would be this:
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
This quote never fails to bring tears in my eyes. And I’m not even English! Such powerful oratory!
46. Yun - July 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 am
@Hannah: Saying you’d take Fascism over Communism is not an endorsement of Fascism. It’s kinda like saying you’d rather eat pig crap than dog crap.
47. Caz - September 16th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
they missed another great one, ‘ the aim is not to die for your country, but make the other bastard die for his!
and the most famous one of all ahhhhhh !
48. mcswiggle - September 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Another smart observation he made- “I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” Clever man.