Quotes by Winston Churchill

Category	Quote	E-Mail this quote
America	You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.
Animals	I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Appeasement	An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile -- hoping it will eat him last.
Breakfast	My wife and I tried two of three times in the last forty years to have breakfast together, but it was so disagreeable we had to stop.
Change	To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
Character	He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Character	He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Civilization	The State of a civilized society can be divined from the manner in which it responds to its criminals.
Comebacks	Heckler: "Mr. Churchill, if I were your wife, I would poison your coffee!" Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."
Communism	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.
Community	There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.
Courage	Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
Criticism	I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered from a lack thereof.
Criticism	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.
Death	I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Democracy	It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Democracy	The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Drinking	I have taken more out of alcohol that alcohol has taken out of me.
Eating words	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.
Economics	The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. - (British Political Leader)
Elections	Mrs. Churchill: "Your election defeat may be a blessing in disguise." Winston: "At the moment, my dear, it's certainly very well disguised."
Europe	What is Europe? A rubble heap, a charnel house, a breeding ground for pestilence and hate.
Exhilaration	There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.
Fanatics	A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
Generosity	We get to make a living; we give to make a life.
Government	The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Grammar	From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is a rule up with which I shall not put.
Grandchildren	Grandson: "Grandpapa, is it true that you are the greatest man in the world?" Churchill: "Yes. Now bugger off."
History	History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
Insults	Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. But then he has much to be modest about
Insults	He is a sheep in sheep's clothing
Jokes	A joke is a very serious thing.
Learning	Personally, I am always ready to learn although I do not always like to be taught.
Lessons	The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
Lies	There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
Life	Life is too short to drink bad wine.
Martyrdom	Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
Optimism	For myself I am an optimist. It does not seem to be much use being anything else.
Progress	I have always considered that the substitution of the internal combusion engine for the horse marked a very gloomy milestone in the progress of mankind.
Quotations	It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
Striving	It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.
Success	Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Truth	Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
Ugliness	Heckler: "Mr. Churchill, you're drunk!" Churchill: "Yes, I am; and you are ugly. But tomorrow, I shall be sober."
unrest	From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. - (first known use of the term “iron curtain”)
Vengeance	Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.
Vice	It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Vision	The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.
War	If you are going through hell, keep going.
War	The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
War	One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once "The Unnecessary War."
War	A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
World peace	If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.

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