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Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill Quotes

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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Famous Winston Churchill Quotes

“We know enough to be sure that the scientific achievements of the next fifty years will be far greater, more rapid, and more surprising, than those we have already experienced. ... Wireless telephones and television, following naturally upon the their present path of development, would enable their owner to connect up to any room similarly equipped and hear and take part in the conversation as well as if he put his head in through the window.”

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Author:Winston Churchill
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“The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the feeble-minded and insane classes, coupled as it is with steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks constitutes a national and race danger which is impossible to exaggerate. I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed before another year has passed.”

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Author:Winston Churchill
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“Like other systems in decay, the Roman Empire continued to function for several generations after its vitality was sapped. For nearly a hundred years our Island was one of the scenes of conflict between a dying civilisation and lusty, famishing barbarism.”

YearsGenerationsDyingSceneConflictHundredFunctionIslandsEmpiresDecayVitalityCivilisationRoman EmpireBarbarism
Book:Churchill's History of the English-speaking Peoples
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“872, Ivar, King of the Northmen of all Ireland and Britain , ended his life." He had conquered Mercia and East Anglia. He had captured the major stronghold of the kingdom of Strathclyde, Dumbarton. Laden with loot and seemingly invincible, he settled in Dublin and died there peacefully two years later. The pious chroniclers report that he "slept in Christ." Thus it may be that he had the best of both worlds.”

WorldYearsMayTwoChristKingsMajorsDiedEastKingdomsBritainReportsTwo YearsIrelandCapturedInvinciblePiousDublinStrongholdsBest Of Both Worlds
Book:A History of the English Speaking Peoples 01. The Birth of Britain.
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“I have left the obvious, essential fact to this point, namely, that it is the Russian Armies who have done the main work in tearing the guts out of the German army. In the air and on the oceans we could maintain our place, but there was no force in the world which could have been called into being, except after several more years, that would have been able to maul and break the German army unless it had been subjected to the terrible slaughter and manhandling that has fallen to it through the strength of the Russian Soviet Armies.”

WorldYearsHas BeensDoneFactsAbleLeftForceBreakAirTerribleEssentialsOceanArmyObviousFallenGutsSovietCould Have BeenSlaughter
Author:Winston Churchill
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“The Great War differed from all ancient wars in the immense power of the combatants and their fearful agencies of destruction, and from all modern wars in the utter ruthlessness with which it was fought... Europe and large parts of Asia and Africa became one vast battlefield on which after years of struggle not armies but nations broke and ran. When all was over, Torture and Cannibalism were the only two expedients that the civilized, scientific, Christian States had been able to deny themselves: and they were of doubtful utility.”

YearsTwoWarStatesAbleChristianNationsStruggleModernEuropeDestructionArmyAncientDenyBrokeRanTortureAgencyCivilizedFearfulImmenseAsiaUtilityBattlefieldsDoubtfulGreat WarCannibalismRuthlessnessModern War
Author:Winston Churchill
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“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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“I was happy as a child with my toys in my nursery. I been happier every year since I became a man. But this interlude of school makes a somber grey patch upon the chart of my journey. It was a unending spell of worries that did not then seem petty, and of toil uncheered by fruition; a time of discomfort, restriction and purposeless monotony.”

MenYearsChildrenSeemsSchoolWorryJourneySpellsToysToilGreyPettyRestrictionDiscomfortPatchesNurseryUnendingMonotonyMy JourneyFruitionSomber
Book:My Early Life: 1874-1904
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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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“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'”

IfsMenYearsStillsWarLastsHoursHistoryDutyBearsThousandBritishEmpiresHistorianWorld War IiWorld War IHeroismThousand YearsFinestGreat WarCommonwealthBritish EmpireBritish HistoryBracesWorld War 1Never Give InEnglish HistoryFinest HourPearl Harbor DayPower Of SpeechBattle Of Britain
Author:Winston Churchill
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“The enemy is still proud and powerful. He is hard to get at. He still possesses enormous armies, vast resources, and invaluable strategic territories...No one can tell what new complications and perils might arise in four or five more years of war. And it is in the dragging-out of the war at enormous expense, until the democracies are tired or bored or split that the main hopes of Germany and Japan must reside.”

WorldYearsStillsWarHardMightPowerfulEnemyDemocracyFiveFourProudResourcesArmyTiredEnormousAriseBoredWar Of The WorldsGermanyJapanExpensesTerritorySplitsPerilStrategicWorld War 2ComplicationInvaluable
Author:Winston Churchill
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“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.”

NeedsYearsHappensFunnyPoliticalNextPoliticsAbilityWeekMonthsTomorrowPoliticianHumorousPrime MinisterNext YearNext WeekGoing To WarFunny PoliticalPoliticians And PoliticsPolitics FunnyWar VictoryFunny PoliticianPolitical JokesPolitics And WarForetelling
Author:Winston Churchill
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“Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free, and life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age... Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'”

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Author:Winston Churchill
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“Thus, then, on the night of the tenth of May, at the outset of this mighty battle, I acquired the chief power in the State, which henceforth I wielded in ever-growing measure for five years and three months of world war, at the end of which time, all our enemies having surrendered unconditionally or being about to do so, I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs.”

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Author:Winston Churchill
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“I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program which I most desired to see was the one described as ‘The Boneless Wonder’. My parents judged that the spectacle would be too demoralizing and revolting for my youthful eye and I have waited fifty years, to see The Boneless Wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.”

YearsChildrenWould BeEyeRememberParentWonderTakenSittingProgramFiftyJudgedFreakRemember WhenCircusExhibitsBenchesTreasuryExhibitionsMonstrosityDemoralizing
Author:Winston Churchill
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“When Iraq becomes strong enough in our opinion to stand alone, we shall be in a position to state that our task has been fulfilled, and that Iraq is an independent sovereign state. But this cannot be said while we are forced year after year to spend very large sums of money on helping the Iraqi government to defend itself and maintain order.”

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Author:Winston Churchill
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“There must be what Mr. Gladstone many years ago called a blessed act of oblivion. We must all turn our backs upon the horrors of the past. We must look to the future. We cannot afford to drag forward across the years that are to come the hatreds and revenges which have sprung from the injuries of the past.”

YearsLooksPastTurnsHorrorYears AgoHatredBlessedRevengeInjuryDragOblivionSprungLooking To The FutureGladstoneHatred And Revenge
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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“This truth may be unfashionable, unpalatable, no doubt unpopular, but, if it is the truth, the story of mankind shows that war was universal and unceasing for millions of years before armaments were invented or armies organized. Indeed, the lucid intervals of peace and order only occurred in human history after armaments in the hands of strong governments have come into being, and civilization in every age has been nursed only in cradles guarded by superior weapons and superior discipline.”

IfsYearsHumansMayHas BeensWarStoriesShowsHandsGovernmentAgeOrderStrongMillionsDoubtMankindDisciplineCivilizationWeaponsUniversalArmySuperiorsOrganizedNo DoubtHuman HistoryCradleIntervalsGuardedArmamentStrong Government
Author:Winston Churchill
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“The Chinese said of themselves several thousand years ago: China is a sea that salts all the waters that flow into it. Theres another Chinese saying about their country which is much more modernit dates only from the fourth century. This is the saying: The tail of China is large and will not be wagged. I like that one. The British democracy approves the principles of movable party heads and unwaggable national tails. It is due to the working of these important forces that I have the honour to be addressing you at this moment.”

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Author:Winston Churchill
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