Winston Churchill was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He was a central figure in the Allied victory in World War II and is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century. He was also an artist, writer, and statesman who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Winston Churchill on leadership, success, history.
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.
Show the path from the front. The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill Quotes About Leadership
There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hope soon to be swept away. — Winston Churchill
I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar. — Winston Churchill
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them. — Winston Churchill
A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.
The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground. — Winston Churchill
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod. — Winston Churchill
It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them. — Winston Churchill
You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.
What is adequacy? Adequacy is no standard at all. — Winston Churchill
The difference between mere management and leadership is communication. — Winston Churchill
The is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has it exceptions. — Winston Churchill
Let us reconcile ourselves to the mysterious rhythm of our destinies, such as they must be in this world of space and time. — Winston Churchill
Success is often nothing more than moving from one failure to another with undiminished enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill
Courage is the ability to go from failure to failure with enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill
Sometimes our best is simply not enough.... We have to do what is required. — Winston Churchill
Mr Churchill, to what do you attribute your success in life? Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down. And never sit down when you can lie down. — Winston Churchill
Success comes from continuing to strive, fail and learn without losing enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill
My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me. — Winston Churchill
Don't take 'no' for an answer, never submit to failure. Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance. You will make all kinds of mistakes, but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or events. — Winston Churchill
Success in life is the ability to move from one mistake to another without loosing enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About History
The flags of the Confederate States of America were very important and a matter of great pride to those citizens living in the Confederacy. They are also a matter of great pride for their descendants as part of their heritage and history. — Winston Churchill
History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it. — Winston Churchill
Never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. — Winston Churchill
The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong. — Winston Churchill
[The Balkans] produce more history than they can consume. — Winston Churchill
History is written by the victors. — Winston Churchill
Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. — Winston Churchill
Mr. Chamberlain loves the working man, he loves to see him work. — Winston Churchill
History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About War
A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him. — Winston Churchill
In war, truth is often the first casualty. — Winston Churchill
We must be very careful not to assign this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations — Winston Churchill
You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves. — Winston Churchill
You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war. — Winston Churchill
I think a curse should rest on me - because I love this war. I know it's smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment - and yet - I can't help it - I enjoy every second of it. — Winston Churchill
...Have the stresses of war been as bad to you personally as carrying through the policy of Collective Farms? — Winston Churchill
I cannot but think we have much to be thankful for, and more still to hope for in the future. — Winston Churchill
In war it does not matter who is right, but who is left. — Winston Churchill
Good night, then - sleep to gather strength for the morning. For the morning will come. Brightly will it shine on the brave and true, kindly on all who suffer for the cause, glorious upon the tombs of heroes. Thus will shine the dawn. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Democracy
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. — Winston Churchill
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been — Winston Churchill
A communist is like a crocodile: when it opens its mouth you cannot tell whether it is trying to smile or preparing to eat you up. — Winston Churchill
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization. — Winston Churchill
The United States stands at the pinnacle of world power. This is a solemn moment for the American democracy. For with primacy in power is joined an awe-inspiring accountability for the future. — Winston Churchill
At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man walking into the little booth with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper. No amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point. — Winston Churchill
I am a child of the House of Commons. I was brought up in my fathers house to believe in democracy. Trust the peoplethat was his message. — Winston Churchill
Democracy is a very bad form of government ... but all the others are so much worse. — Winston Churchill
No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. — Winston Churchill
If you want a good argument against democracy, spend five minutes with a voter. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Love
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry. — Winston Churchill
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. — Winston Churchill
Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet been found. — Winston Churchill
A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril. — Winston Churchill
Most people hate the taste of beer - to begin with. It is, however, a prejudice that many people have been able to overcome. — Winston Churchill
There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained. — Winston Churchill
A love of tradition has never weakened a nation. — Winston Churchill
Just to paint is great fun. The colours are lovely to look at and delicious to squeeze out. Matching them, however crudely, with what you see is fascinating and absolutely absorbing. — Winston Churchill
The day may dawn when fair play, love for one's fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair. — Winston Churchill
If you find a job you love, you'll never work again. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About America
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else. — Winston Churchill
Before America entered the war [WW2] I knew we could not win it, but after she entered I knew we could not lose — Winston Churchill
There are no people in the world who are so slow to develop hostile feelings against a foreign country as the Americans, and no people who, once estranged, are more difficult to win back. — Winston Churchill
You can always rely on America to do the right thing -- once it has exhausted the alternatives. — Winston Churchill
This war proceeds along its terrible path by the slaughter of infantry...I say to myself every day. What is going on while we sit here, while we go away to dinner or home to bed? Nearly, 1000 - Englishmen, Britishers, and the other is America...Everything else is swept away. — Winston Churchill
The United States is a land of free speech. Nowhere is speech freer - not even here where we sedulously cultivate it even in its most repulsive form. — Winston Churchill
I do not admit... that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia... by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race... has come in and taken its place. — Winston Churchill
I want no criticism of America at my table. The Americans criticize themselves more than enough. — Winston Churchill
America, can always be counted upon to do the right thing in the end, having first exhausted the available alternatives. — Winston Churchill
I do not apologize for the takeover of the region by the Jews from the Palestinians in the same way I don't apologize for the takeover of America by the whites from the Red Indians or the takeover of Australia from the blacks. It is natural for a superior race to dominate an inferior one. — Winston Churchill
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. — Winston Churchill
There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction. — Winston Churchill
Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party. — Winston Churchill
If you don't take change by the hand, it will take you by the throat. — Winston Churchill
In Great Britain, governments often change their policies without changing their men. In France, they usually change their men without changing their policy. — Winston Churchill
The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease should be universally applied it should not be applied at all. But you must start somewhere. — Winston Churchill
I expect you will find that change is the best kind of rest. — Winston Churchill
Only changes in mindsets can extend the frontiers of the possible. — Winston Churchill
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses. — Winston Churchill
The substance of the eminent Socialist gentlemen's speech is that making a profit is a sin. It is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss! — Winston Churchill
Socialists think profits are a vice; I consider losses the real vice. — Winston Churchill
I will not pretend that if I had to choose between communism and Nazism I would choose communism. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Truth
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. — Winston Churchill
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences. — Winston Churchill
The Russian Bolsheviks have discovered that truth does not matter so long as there is reiteration. They have no difficulty whatever in countering a fact by a lie which, if repeated often enough and loudly enough, becomes accepted by the people. — Winston Churchill
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. — Winston Churchill
In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. — Winston Churchill
We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. — Winston Churchill
The stations of uncensored expression are closing down; the lights are going out; but there is still time for those to whom freedom and parliamentary government mean something, to consult together. Let me, then, speak in truth and earnestness while time remains. — Winston Churchill
Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths without giving offense. — Winston Churchill
A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life. — Winston Churchill
The person of truth must be covered with bodyguards of lies. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Nation
The arts are essential to any complete national life. The State owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them. [...] Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the reverence and delight which are their due. — Winston Churchill
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. — Winston Churchill
Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind. — Winston Churchill
It is the English-speaking nations who, almost alone, keep alight the torch of Freedom. — Winston Churchill
Not to have an adequate air force in the present state of the world is to compromise the foundations of national freedom and independence. — Winston Churchill
I have never accepted what many people have kindly said-namely that I inspired the nation. Their will was resolute and remorseless, and as it proved, unconquerable. It fell to me to express it. — Winston Churchill
There are few virtues that the Poles do not possess and there are few errors they have ever avoided. — Winston Churchill
Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. — Winston Churchill
Two nations divided by a common language. — Winston Churchill
There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of the Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution, by these international and for the most part atheistical Jews. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Life
We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. — Winston Churchill
When you're 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you're 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you're 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place. You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. — Winston Churchill
No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. — Winston Churchill
My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them. — Winston Churchill
Keep calm and carry on. — Winston Churchill
A modest little person, with much to be modest about. — Winston Churchill
In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet. — Winston Churchill
No socialist government conducting the entire life and industry of the country could afford to allow free, sharp or violently worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanly directed in the first instance. — Winston Churchill
There comes a special moment in everyone's life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission - a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he will find greatness. It is his finest hour. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Politics
If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty, you have no brain. — Winston Churchill
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. — Winston Churchill
You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. — Winston Churchill
I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents. — Winston Churchill
Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the object worship of the state. — Winston Churchill
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. — Winston Churchill
After a time, civil servants tend to become no longer servants and no longer civil. — Winston Churchill
Victory will never be found by taking the path of least resistance. — Winston Churchill
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. — Winston Churchill
Any 20 year-old who isn't a liberal doesn't have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn't a conservative doesn't have a brain. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About World
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? — Winston Churchill
There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true. — Winston Churchill
The most beautiful voice in the world is that of an educated Southern woman. — Winston Churchill
Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world. — Winston Churchill
It is my belief, you cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you understand the most amusing. — Winston Churchill
I am convinced that there is no smarter, handier, or more adaptable body of troops in the world. — Winston Churchill
Most of the world's work is done by people who don't feel very well. — Winston Churchill
No more let us alter or falter or palter. From Malta to Yalta, and Yalta to Malta. — Winston Churchill
If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire. — Winston Churchill
Canada is the linchpin of the English-speakin g world — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Quotes About Words
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. — Winston Churchill
By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. — Winston Churchill
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out. — Winston Churchill
I'm so bored with it all. — Winston Churchill
There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England. — Winston Churchill
Watch your thoughts, they become your words. — Winston Churchill
A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic. They make frantic efforts to bar our thoughts and words; they are afraid of the workings of the human mind. — Winston Churchill
Short words are the best and old words when short are best of all. — Winston Churchill
I have never developed indigestion from eating my words. — Winston Churchill
It cannot in the opinion of His Majesty's Government be classified as slavery in the extreme acceptance of the word without some risk of terminological inexactitude. — Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill Famous Quotes And Sayings
Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage. — Winston Churchill
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. — Winston Churchill
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. — Winston Churchill
Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners. — Winston Churchill
To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour. — Winston Churchill
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. — Winston Churchill
No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. — Winston Churchill
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. — Winston Churchill
Schools have not necessarily much to do with education...they are mainly institutions of control where certain basic habits must be inculcated in the young. Education is quite different and has little place in school. — Winston Churchill
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. — Winston Churchill
Tidiness is a virtue, symmetry is often a constituent of beauty. — Winston Churchill
Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon. — Winston Churchill
History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it. — Winston Churchill
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. — Winston Churchill
Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime ministers have never yet been invested. — Winston Churchill
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion. — Winston Churchill
Remember the story of the Spanish prisoner. For many years he was confined in a dungeon... One day it occurred to him to push the door of his cell. It was open; and it had never been locked. — Winston Churchill
The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. — Winston Churchill
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. — Winston Churchill
The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash. — Winston Churchill
Courage is the ability to go from failure to failure with enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill
Your greatest fears are created by your imagination. Don't give in to them. — Winston Churchill
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash. — Winston Churchill
I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. — Winston Churchill
The price of greatness is responsibility. — Winston Churchill
If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce. — Winston Churchill
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. — Winston Churchill
Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea. Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it. — Winston Churchill
No two on earth in all things can agree. All have some daring singularity. — Winston Churchill
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry. — Winston Churchill
As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us. — Winston Churchill
A joke is a very serious thing. — Winston Churchill
All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes. — Winston Churchill
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out. — Winston Churchill
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary. — Winston Churchill
Here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it — Winston Churchill
The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it. — Winston Churchill
He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. — Winston Churchill
There are no limits to the majestic future which lies before the mighty expanse of Canada with its virile, aspiring, cultured, and generous-hearted people. — Winston Churchill
Sometimes our best is simply not enough.... We have to do what is required. — Winston Churchill
Never run away from anything. Never! — Winston Churchill
You ought to let the Jews have Jerusalem; it is they who made it famous. — Winston Churchill
Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he didn't know where he was going, he didn?t know where he was? and he did it all at taxpayers expense. — Winston Churchill
When you are on a great horse, you have the best seat you will ever have. — Winston Churchill
Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. — Winston Churchill
All dogs look up to you. All cats look down on you. Only the pig looks at you as an equal — Winston Churchill
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic. — Winston Churchill
This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure. — Winston Churchill
It is all true, or it ought to be; and more and better besides. — Winston Churchill
Money is like manure, its only good if you spread it around. — Winston Churchill
Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are billed to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. — Winston Churchill
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else. — Winston Churchill
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile -- hoping it will eat him last. — Winston Churchill
Life Lessons by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill taught us the importance of courage and perseverance in the face of adversity. He showed us that it is possible to overcome great obstacles and to never give up.
He also showed us the importance of having a strong sense of purpose and a willingness to take risks in order to achieve one's goals.
Finally, Churchill demonstrated that leadership is not about being popular, but about doing what is right and having the courage to stand up for one's beliefs.
Citation
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