A young man who photographed Winston Churchill on his 80th birthday said courteously that he hoped he could do the same on his hundredth. "I don't see why not," said Churchill. "You look reasonably fit to me."

We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us

I like a man who grins when he fights.

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.

When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

Personally I agree with the president in his distrust of de Gaulle...remember that there is not a scrap of generosity about this man, who only wishes to pose as the saviour of France in this operation without a single French soldier at his back

Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is - the strong horse that pulls the whole cart

There is only one duty, one safe course, and that is to try to be right

(Winston Churchill holding open a door) 'Sir, there is no need to do that just because I am a lady: 'Madam, I don't, I do it because I am a gentleman.'.'

Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualitites, because ... it is the quality that guarantees all others.

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb

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

A love of tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril; but the new view must come, the world must roll forward.

Kites rise highest against the wind; not with it.

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.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

The American Constitution declares 'All men are born equal.' The British Socialist Party add: 'All men must be kept equal'

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

It is hard, if not impossible, to snub a beautiful woman - they remain beautiful and the snub recoils

A hopeful disposition is not the sole qualification to be a prophet.

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.

A cat will look down to a man. A dog will look up to a man. But a pig will look you straight in the eye and see his equal.

I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks

This is one of those cases in which the imagination is baffled by the facts.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope

He is one of those orators of whom it was well said. Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying;and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire

The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong

Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

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

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is

The essence of American journalism is vulgarity divested of truth.

In war-time…truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies

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

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'.

The British and Americans do not want war with races or governments as such. Tyranny, external or internal, is our foe

This is a war of the unknown warriors; but let all strive without failing in faith or in duty, and the dark curse of Hitler will be lifted from our age

Any clever person can make plans for winning a war if he has no responsibility for carrying them out

No matter how enmeshed a commander becomes in the elaboration of his own thoughts, it is sometimes necessary to take the enemy into account

Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent or arrogant commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant fortune, ugly surprise, awful miscalculations - all take their seat at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war

'You are drunk Sir Winston, you are disgustingly drunk. 'Yes, Mrs. Braddock, I am drunk. But you, Mrs. Braddock are ugly, and disgustingly fat. But, tomorrow morning, I, Winston Churchill will be sober.

Lady Astor: Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea! Churchill: And if you were my wife, I would drink it!

This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.

If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire

Eating words has never given me indigestion

By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach

But we have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked but not combined. We are interested and associated but not absorbed

Each time we must choose between Europe and the open sea, we shall always choose the open sea. Each time I must choose between you and Roosevelt, I shall always choose Roosevelt

The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there is no limit to the power it can generate

We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked but not comprised. We are associated but not absorbed. And should European statesmen address us and say, 'Shall we speak for thee?', we should reply, 'Nay Sir, for we dwell among our own people'

There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England.

When I warned them (the French Government) that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, "In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." Some chicken! Some neck!.

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

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

These are not dark days: these are great days--the greatest days our country has ever lived.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and its Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity; in peace, goodwill.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat

The maxim of the British people is 'Business as usual.'

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

I have never accepted what many people have kindly said-namely, that I inspired the nation. . . . It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion's heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, 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.

Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt... We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.

I am confident that we shall succeed in defeating and largely destroying this most tremendous onslaught by which we are now threatened, and anyhow, whatever happens, we will all go down fighting to the end

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war

If the human race wishes to have prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another

Let Europe arise again in glory, and by her strength and unity ensure the peace of the world

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

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

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.

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

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

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

There is no such thing as a good tax.

India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator.

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

So they [the Government] go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-poweruful to be impotent.

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.

They are not fit to manage a whelk stall

Mr Chamberlain loves the working man, he loves to see him work

When I am abroad I always make it a rule never to criticise or attack the Government of my country. I make up for lost time when I am at home

A sheep in sheep's clothing

A modest man, who has much to be modest about

An empty taxi arrived at 10 Downing Street, and when the door was opened, Atlee got out

I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill, but it would have been much better if he had never lived

He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened

He looked at foreign affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe

What could you hope to achieve except to be sunk in a bigger and more expensive ship this time

At every crisis the Kaiser crumpled. In defeat he fled; in revolution he abdicated; in exile he remarried.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times

Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like drinking it

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business

No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections

I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic

A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen

If you destroy a free market, you create a black market.

We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges

Entering the Commons washroom, Churchill deliberately took up position at the opposite end of the urinal to PM Clement Attlee, who asked:"Feeling stand-offish today are we, Winston ?" "That's right" replied Churchill. "Every time you see something big, you want to nationalise it"

It is always dangerous for soldiers, sailors or airmen to play at politics. They enter a sphere in which the values are quite different from those to which they have hitherto been accustomed

The price of greatness is responsibility.

There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.

We are all worms. I believe I am a gloworm.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm

It is no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

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

Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.

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

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

In those days he was wiser than he is now&ldots; he used to frequently take my advice

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

Churchill was approached by a rather attractive and well-endowed woman. "Mr. Churchill," she declared, "I traveled over a hundred miles this morning for the unveiling of your bust.""Madam, I assure you," he enthusiastically replied, "in that regard I would gladly return the favor!"

During World War II, as Churchill was getting dressed, an aide was reading him the news: On a cold January night with the temperature below freezing, a seventy-five year old man had been arrested for having sex with a nineteen-year-old prostitute on the lawn in Hyde Park. Churchill replied to the aide, "My God! Sex in public, temperature below-zero, over seventy-five with a nineteen year-old! It makes one proud to be an Englishman"