Winston Churchill

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.

We have not journeyed all this way because we are made of sugar candy.

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.

By being so long in the lowest form [at Harrow] I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys. . . . I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence - which is a noble thing. Naturally I am biased in favor of boys learning English; I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honor, and Greek as a treat.

The only guide to man is his conscience.

Logic is a poor guide compared with custom.

Don't argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves.

If I were the first of May, I should be ashamed of myself.

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.

If I had been an Italian I am sure that I should have been whole-heartedly with you from the start to finish in your triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism.

Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.

Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth?

My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them.

One evening at Chequers the film was Oliver Twist. Rufus, as usual, had the best seat in the house, on his master's lap. At the point when Bill Sikes was about to drown his dog to put the police off his track, Churchill covered Rufus's eyes with his hand. He said, "Don't look now, dear. I'll tell you about it afterwards."

It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it.

He sees with amazement that our defeats are but the stepping stones to victory and that all his victories are stepping stones to ruin. It was apparent to me that this bad man saw quite clearly the shadow of slowly and remorselessly approaching doom, and he railed at fortune for mocking him with the glitter of fleeting success.

Saving is a fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.