It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Winston ChurchillRead
It is no use dealing with illusions and make-believes. We must look at the facts. The world ... is too dangerous for anyone to be able to afford to nurse illusions. We must look at realities.
Interpretation
Facing reality is essential for safety and effective decision-making.
Winston Churchill emphasizes the importance of confronting the truth rather than succumbing to false beliefs or illusions. In a world that can be perilous, understanding and accepting reality is crucial for both personal and collective safety, as ignoring the facts can lead to misguided actions and potentially dangerous outcomes.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming challenges, one might quote this to emphasize the need for honesty in assessing situations.
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there's no limit to the power it can generate.
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
I will not pretend that if I had to choose between communism and Nazism I would choose communism.
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.
Don't equate activity with efficiency. You are paying your key people to see the big picture. Don't let them get bogged down in a lot of meaningless meetings and paper shuffling. Announce a Friday afternoon off once in a while. Cancel a Monday morning meeting or two. Tell the cast of characters you'd like them to spend the amount of time normally spent preparing for attending the meeting at their desks, simply thinking about an original idea.
Before I can embrace freedom, I should be aware of what duties I have.
The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.
In a weird way I must have loved my little collection of hurts and wounds. They provided me with some real nice sympathy, with the feeling I was exceptional... What a special case I was.
Each person feels that he is an 'expert' in one or two fields and just the 'public' in all the others. But you know, probably, from experience that no one is really able to appreciate any display of ability in any field if he himself has not, to a certain degree, taken part in its problems and difficulties at some time.
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