Churchill Quotes

~ beetleypete

I am not a huge fan of Winston Churchill. He may have led Britain through a difficult war, but at heart he was an aristocrat, an elitist, and a racist.

However, many of his quotes are gems, and worth remembering in modern times.

One for a certain Mr D Trump.
The price of greatness is responsibility.

One for the politically ignorant.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

One for Mr Biden to remember.
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.

One for those who acquitted Trump to reflect on.
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

A prescient view of ‘Fake News’.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Something for every country to consider, in the time of a pandemic.
Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have

One for nationalists and patriots to think hard about.
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

One that we can all relate to in the UK.
The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.

And the last one, for our consumerist society.
We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.

76 thoughts on “Churchill Quotes”

  3. My biological father [he was 62 when I was born] new Mr Churchill. They were both academics. His aunt, Lady Sarah Wilson was in Mafeking during the Second Anglo Boer War. She makes a brief appearance in my book, A Ghost and His Gold.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. He was indeed a strong leader during the war. Not as popular here as people think though, hence his huge defeat in the 1945 election. His quotes are still uncannily appropriate now though. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. He was an excellent war time prime minister who by an accident of birth was also an aristocrat and a product of his upbringing. I don’t blame him for that, but what gets me is why aristocrats and people with money always end up in the top jobs whether or not they’re suitable for them. I’m sure there must be very talented people out there, but just because they go to the wrong school they never stand a chance.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  13. I agree with you Pete; he had some repellent views but there’s no doubt he was an excellent writer. I’m just wondering about the ‘fake news’ quote – it seems unlikely he’d have used the word ‘pants’ for trousers

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  15. I would say judge a person on their deeds not their words. The chipping away of Churchill’s standing is all part of the revisionist creep that has been brought to bear by liberal historians over the past decade. They’ll be having a pop at Margaret Thatcher next 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. Interesting sentiments there Pete. I remember having a heated debate with a 20 something at the time who spouted all the usual anti Thatcherite clichés with no understanding of the historical context. I abhor right wing Conservatism, but I do remember what a sh1t place the UK was growing up in 70s London, but then on the other hand she never made the trains run on time, that’s the true mark 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. I was a Trade Union rep for most of my working life, so I was never going to be happy with any Tory. 🙂
          (On a side note, when I worked for Special Ops in the Met Police, we dealt with her armed protection. When Thatcher had dementia in her later years, I often conversed with her daughter Carol on the phone. She was a nice person, unlike her brother, who took after his mum.)
          Best wishes, Pete.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  18. He was a Prime Minister of the times and a damn good one who guided and lead the British people through the war…His quotes are undeniably memorable and you, Pete have matched them perfectly to current climes…A man of many facets and should damn him for that..maybe…many do…he was a product both of the times and his upbringing and we would do well to know that none of us are perfect and also that few of us could have done what he did…Personally, I admire him greatly for that and I am sure that like today there were also many false facts being bandied about…x

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  20. I’m a great fan of Winston Churchill, at least what I’ve read about him during WW2 and especially during the Blitz. I love the quotes including this one, “I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.”

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  24. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

    We are living this statement in the U.S.! Resisting the urge to climb up on my soapbox, I have to say how disappointed and surprised I am that so many Americans (and others?) can subscribe to the lie that HE won the election BY A LANDSLIDE(???), when he lost by more than 7 million votes! He was the worst president in my lifetime and clearly the most blatant liar and thief. The fact that he was acquitted — in the face of so much clear evidence to the contrary — is very scary. Thank God I’m old and won’t have to live another lifetime in the hell he and his cohorts have created. He is so much the examplar of the coronavirus! Look up VIRUS and there will be his picture! OK, shutting up now. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Yes, he was one of the elite, stood up when the country needed him perhaps, but said some awful things behind the scenes. I just think some of his quotes are uncannily appropriate for the times we find ourselves in.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. It is hard not to admire what he did. It is hard to ignore what he said. He may have been part of the elite, but he saved all of our bacon. And yes, a lot of his “sayings” are most appropriate for today. Warmest regards, Theo

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  28. Name me one inspiring quote by the useless prime minister we have now. Not one comes to mind. I don’t dislike him but he’s not of the calibre of Churchill ( who ironically he admires).

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Boris is completely useless. He was a mouthpiece for the machinations of Cummings, and once he had to sack him, he had no idea what to say. He has even gone on record as stating that he finds it hard to live on the PMs salary and expenses. He is just appalling!
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

  29. Winston Churchill was a flawed human being (like most of us) but he was the right prime minister for war time. A man of his time. He was a strong and determined we would not lose the war. His speeches gave people hope and kept morale up. He also got all those prefabs built for people who had no adequate housing. He’d have done a much better job of it during this pandemic than the prime minister we have now.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks, WN. I think the British people had seen enough of him by 1945. Hence the massive Labour Party landslide victory in the election that year. Churchill was strongly opposed to the NHS, National Insurance, State Pensions, Trade Unions, and Sick Pay. But he left us with some good quotes! 🙂

      I knew many people who lived in prefabs until I was in my late teens. They were sought after as accommodation, but their mainly asbestos construction sadly left many residents with lung problems later on. Of course, the builders were unaware of that at the time. I used to be looked after as a baby in a prefab, while my mum was at work.

      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

  30. His quotes are excellent and you have shared some great ones. This is my favourite, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” The other one I like and have used in my workshops is, “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

All comments welcome

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.