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Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill Quotes

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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Famous Winston Churchill Quotes

“First, Poland has been again overrun by two of the great powers which held her in bondage for 150 years but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation. The heroic defense of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible, and that she will rise again like a rock which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave but which remains a rock.”

YearsFirstsMayHas BeensTwoSoulShowsSpiritNationsRocksRemainsWaveDefenseSpellsHeroicBondagePolishGreat PowerPolandIndestructibleQuenchSubmergedTidal WavesWarsaw
Book:The Churchill War Papers: At the Admiralty, September 1939-May 1940
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“There are two processes which we adopt consciously or unconsciously when we try to prophesy. We can seek a period in the past whose conditions resemble as closely as possible those of our day, and presume that the sequel to that period will, save for some minor alterations, be similar. Secondly, we can survey the general course of development in our immediate past, and endeavor to prolong it into the near future. The first is the method the historian; the second that of the scientist. Only the second is open to us now, and this only in a partial sphere.”

TryingFirstsTwoPastCoursesProcessConditionsDevelopmentPeriodsFutureScientistMethodEndeavorHistorianSpheresMinorsSurveysSequelsAlterations
Book:If I lived my life again
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“You haven't learned life's lesson very well if you haven't noticed that you can give the tone or colour, or decide the reaction you want of people in advance. It's unbelievable simply. If you want them to take an interest in you, take an interest in them first. If you want to make them nervous, become nervous yourself...It's as simple as that. People will treat you as you treat them. It's no secret. Look about you. You can prove it with the next person you meet.”

PeopleIfsWantGivingFirstsWellsLooksPersonsNextInterestSimpleSecretHavensLessonsProveTreatsReactionsNervousToneColourUnbelievableProve It
Author:Winston Churchill
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“I now began for the first time to envy those young cubs at the university who had fine scholars to tell them what was what; professors who had devoted their lives to mastering and focusing ideas in every branch of learning; who were eager to distribute the treasures they had gathered before they were overtaken by the night. But now I pity undergraduates, when I see what frivolous lives many of them lead in the midst of precious fleeting opportunity. After all, a man's Life must be nailed to a cross either of Thought or Action. Without work there is no play.”

MenFirstsIdeasPlayActionYoungNightOpportunityFineFirst TimeCrossesUniversityEnvyTreasurePityBranchesMidstProfessorsScholarDevotedFleetingFrivolousLead InCubs
Author:Winston Churchill
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“The very first thing the President [Truman] did was to show me the new Presidential Seal, which he had just redesigned. He explained, 'The seal has to go everywhere the President goes. It must be displayed upon the lectern when he speaks. The eagle used to face the arrows but I have re-designed it so that it now faces the olive branches ... what do you think?' I said, 'Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.'”

ThinkingFirstsSaidShowsMightFacesUsedSpeakPresidentDemandOccasionsPresidentialBranchesNecksShow MeEaglesArrowsSealsOlivesTrumanAmerican EagleOlive BranchesPresident Truman
Author:Winston Churchill
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“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.”

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Book:Churchill: The Power of Words
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“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.”

YearsFirstsEndsMoralSupremeAriseRecoveryBitterCupsReckoningAppeasementOlden Times
Book:The Gathering Storm
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“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.”

MenWantFirstsYoungSciencePoliticalPoliticsWishLearningBabyLessonsMembersDiedRateProofMinistersYoung ManStatisticsMortalityPrimeFewerPrime MinisterInfantParliamentMembers Of ParliamentInfant Mortality
Author:Winston Churchill
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“Before the war it had seemed incredible that such terrors and slaughters, even if they began, could last more than a few months. After the first two years it was difficult to believe that they would ever end.”

IfsYearsFirstsBelieveTwoWarEndsActionLastsDifficultMonthsIncrediblesTerrorTwo YearsSlaughter
Book:Great destiny: sixty years of the memorable events in the life of the man of the century recounted in his own incomparable words
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“I will begin by saying what everybody would like to ignore or forget... we have sustained a total and unmitigated defeat... All is over. Silent, mournful, abandoned, broken, Czechoslovakia recedes into the darkness... We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude which has befallen Great Britain and France. Do not let us blind ourselves to that... Do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning.”

FirstsEndsForgetDarknessBrokenAdversityBlindSilentDefeatDisasterFranceBritainAbandonedMagnitudeGreat BritainReckoningCzechoslovakia
Author:Winston Churchill
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“The Golcondas were considered incomparably the best team in Southern India ... [But] we defeated [them] by 9 goals to 3. On succeeding days we made short work of all other opponents, and established the record, never since broken, of winning a first-class tournament within fifty days of landing in India.”

FirstsMadeWinningGoalClassRecordsTeamBrokenSucceedIndiaOpponentsFiftySouthernLeisureDefeatedTournamentsLandingFirst ClassBest Team
Author:Winston Churchill
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“Now at last the slowly gathered, long-pent-up fury of the storm broke upon us. Four or five millions of men met each other in the first shock of the most merciless of all the wars of which record has been kept.”

MenFirstsLongHas BeensWarLastsMillionsRecordsFiveFourViolenceMetsStormBrokeShockFuryBroke Up
Book:Memoirs of the Second World War: An Abridgement of the Six Volumes of the Second World War
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