Winston Churchill Quotes

“Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.”

“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.”

“I like things to happen, and if they don’t happen I like to make them happen.”

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

“Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.”

“True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.”

“To try to be safe everywhere is to be strong nowhere.”

“You must put your head into the lion's mouth if the performance is to be a success.”

“Victory is only wrested by running risks.”

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”

“Doubts can be swept away only by deeds.”

“The maxim, ‘Nothing prevails but perfection,’ may be spelled paralysis.”

“I never worry about action, but only about inaction.”

“Things do not get better by being left alone.”

“Without execution, thinking is mere idleness.”

“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”

“I am all for your using machines, but do not let them use you.”

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

“No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.”

“In critical and baffling situations, it is always best to return to first principle and simple action.”

“Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.”

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

“In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.”

“The only way a man can remain consistent amid changing circumstances is to change with them while preserving the same dominating purpose.”

“Never, never, never give up.”

“If you're going through hell, keep going.”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

“Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.”

“Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.”

“As one’s fortunes are reduced, one’s spirit must expand to fill the void.”

“Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.”

“Don’t argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves.”

“When you feel you cannot continue in your position for another minute, and all that is in human power has been done, that is the moment when the enemy is most exhausted, and when one step forward will give you the fruits of the struggle you have borne.”

“If you simply take up the attitude of defending a mistake, there will be no hope of improvement.”

“A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.”

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.”

“A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.”

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?”

“There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hope soon to be swept away.”