Winston Churchill

“I do not suppose that at any moment of history has the agony of the world been so great or widespread. Tonight the sun goes down on more suffering than ever before in the world.”

“We are the masters of our fate.”

“I was myself so smitten in public opinion that it was the almost universal view that my political life was at last ended.”

“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.' - To Neville Chamberlain”

“The Government simply cannot make up their mind or they cannot get the prime minister to make up his mind. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful for impotency. And so we go on preparing more months more years precious perhaps vital for the greatness of Britain for the locusts to eat. - Speaking in the Address in Reply debate, after giving some specific instances of Germany's war preparedness”

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

“Curse ruthless time! Curse our mortality. How cruelly short is the allotted span for all we must cram into it!”

“It is my purpose, as one who lived and acted in these days, first to show how easily the tragedy of the Second World War could have been prevented; how the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous...”

“We shall see how the counsels of prudence and restraint may become the prime agents of mortal danger; how the middle course adopted from desires for safety and a quiet life may be found to lead direct to the bull's-eye of disaster.”

“If Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons”

“2. We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.”

“A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.”

“You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities.”

“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?”

“Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.”

“Gusturile mele sunt simple; mă mulțumesc ușor cu lucrurile cele mai bune.”

“They said it was only a ground shark; but I was not wholly reassured. It is as bad to be eaten by a ground shark as by any other.”

“Adevărul este atât de prețios, încât adesea trebuie să fie slujit de un corp de gardă alcătuit din minciuni.”

“Calea cea mai scurtă către distrugere este să te iei la întrecere cu metodele adversarului.”

“Dictatorii se plimbă încolo și încoace, călare pe tigri de pe care nu cutează să se dea jos. Iar tigrilor li se face foame.”

“Nimic în viață nu îți dă o dispoziție mai bună decât faptul că cineva a tras în tine fără să te nimerească.”

“Thus far then have we travelled along the terrible road we chose at the call of duty. The mood of Britain is wisely and rightly averse from every form of shallow or premature exultation. This is no time for boasts or glowing prophecies, but there is this: A year ago our position looked forlorn, and well nigh desperate to all eyes but our own. To-day we may say aloud before an awe-struck world: 'We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls.”

“For get this quite clear, every time we have to decide between Europe and the open sea, it is always the open sea we shall choose. Every time I have to decide between you [Charles de Gaulle] and Roosevelt, I shall always choose Roosevelt.”

“The POSITIVE THINKER sees the INVISIBLE, feels the INTANGIBLE, and achieves the IMPOSSIBLE.”

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

“A sheep in sheep’s clothing. [on Clement Attlee]”

“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.”

“Sex...I enjoy it immensely”

“Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

“Here was a place where real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place where anything might happen. Here was a place where something would certainly happen.”

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

“Don't argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves.”

“-Sir, se lei fosse mio marito, io le avvelenerei il tè.-Madam, se lei fosse mia moglie, io lo berrei."Dialogo tra Lady Astor e Winston Churchill”

“Gli italiani perdono le partite di calcio come se fossero guerre e perdono le guerre come se fossero partite di calcio.”

“Quelli che sono in grado di vincere una guerra possono raramente realizzare una pace conveniente, e quelli che possono realizzare una buona pace non hanno mai vinto una guerra.”

“Un prigioniero di guerra è un uomo che cerca di ucciderti, non ci riesce, dopo di che ti chiede di non ucciderlo.”

“Non complicate le cose, ci saranno già le cose a complicarsi da sole.”

“Bizzarro popolo gli italiani. Un giorno 45 milioni di fascisti. Il giorno successivo 45 milioni tra antifascisti e partigiani. Eppure questi 90 milioni di italiani non risultano dai censimenti.”

“Quando devi uccidere un uomo non costa nulla essere gentile.”

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and thegospel of envy.”—WSC, PERTH, 28 MAY 1948”

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.”

“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.”

“Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.”

“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?”

“Thr truth is inconvertible.Malice may attack itand ignorance may deride it,but in the end,there it is.....”

“The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor.”

“And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”

“This is a strange Christmas Eve,"Churchill told the the crowd of several hundred gathered at the mansion's garden."Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle, and with the most terrible weapons which science can devise the nations advance upon each other.”

“Let us make sure that the supreme fact of the 20th century is that they tread the same path.”

“Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.”