In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
— 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.
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old.
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.
If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
'No comment' is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
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.
There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.
To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
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.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.
I like a man who grins when he fights.
I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
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.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
If it weren't for painting, I wouldn't live; I couldn't bear the extra strain of things.
If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.
One does not leave a convivial party before closing time.
