Quotes by Sir Winston Churchill

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.

There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.

To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
(attributed)

We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
(BBC radio broadcast, Feb 9, 1941)

The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.
(Hansard, June 10, 1941)

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
(Hansard, May 13, 1940)

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 other forms that have been tried from time to time.
(Hansard, November 11, 1947)

So they [the Government] go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.
(Hansard, November 12, 1936)

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
(My Early Life, 1930)

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
(on the eve of his 75th birthday)

I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, 'Verify your quotations.'
(quoted in Rudolf Flesch, ed., "The New Book of Unusual Quotations" (NY: Harper & Row, 1966), p. 311)

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.
(Radio speech, 1939)

Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt... We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
(Radio speech, 1941)