What we often forget about good old Winnie is that he wasn’t just a politician, statesman, and leading figure of the 20th Century. He was also a prolific writer with more than 43 books in 72 volumes.
In those books – as well as in his speeches – Churchill has dozens, hundreds, even thousands of pithy, memorable quotes. I ran across them the other day when researching a speech.
Here’s my top 10 favorite Winston Churchill quotes:
10) “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”
9) To a woman who said: “If I was your wife Sir, I’d poison you!” “Madam, if you were my wife, I’d let you!”
8) “Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.”
7) “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
6) “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
5) “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
4) “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
3) “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
2) “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
1) “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
And, because I can’t help myself, a bonus quotation:
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
And one more which I hope is not true of this post:
“The length of this document defends it well against the risk of its being read.”
And that’s the end.
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Thanks to BrainyQuote for the quotes.