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!
Winston Churchill
Can’t wait to see the reaction from those who think I am coming off (again!) as a hardass!
This guy was GREAT!!
I agree, but great men also say very wrong things, such as this on Iraq:
"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes.
The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected… We cannot, in any circumstances acquiesce to the non-utilisation of any weapons which are available to procure a speedy termination of the disorder which prevails on the frontier."
There is a cetrain irony in that civilised Europeans introduced Iraq to WMD…
Poison GAS?
Why use such barbaric weapons when the use of atomic weapons were just around the corner!?
He’s still my go-to guy when I need a great quote for my gym wall.
Yes, I could agree with you there. Just don’t ask him for a programme;-)
Reagan, or maybe as far back as Kennedy may sadly be the last of the truly great political speakers in America’s recent history - ‘great’, I mean, in their prophetic use of language as opposed to simply great speakers, such as even the most staunch of Repulicans has to admit Clinton clearly was (a great speaker).
However, a Churchill quote…those, are timeless and incredibly lucid; as history has done little to prove many of his remarks unwarranted.
Though, I find the following as my personal favorite:
?Show me a man at the age of twenty who is not a liberal, and I?ll show you a man without a heart. Show me a man at the age of forty who is not a conservative, and I?ll show you a man without a brain,? - Winston Churchill.
''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. "
There are so many good, clever Churchill quotes out there.
‘’ I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down at us. Pigs treat us as equals"
One of my favorites:
Besse Bradock MP to Winston Churchill:
“Sir, you are drunk.”
“Indeed, Madam, and you are ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober.”
Churchill was quite a character. A heavy drug user in his younger days and raging alcoholic who woke at noon for much of the rest of the way, he managed to lead with more style than most other leaders who’ve come along.
“Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.”
Lady Astor to Winston Churchill
“Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.”
–Churchill’s reply
“When going thru Hell…keep going.”
“History will be kind to me because I intend to write it.”
Two of my favorite Winston Quotes.
WOW! I thought the ones I had were good… these are GREAT! Thanks!
[quote]derek wrote:
Poison GAS?
Why use such barbaric weapons when the use of atomic weapons were just around the corner!?
He’s still my go-to guy when I need a great quote for my gym wall.[/quote]
My compatriot was referring to a statement Churchil made in 1919 when the R.A.F. asked for permission to use gas against rebellious tribes in Iraq.
So nuclear weapons where still a few decades away.
Anyway, everybody knows the Germans were the first to use gas in WWI right? :-/
Derek,
Winny was the quote miester of his day and a pretty good writer also. Do a search for some of his quotes…he had some real gems.
The History Channel website also has a link to great speech’s. They have a few from Churchill. The man could speak.
[quote]TQB wrote:
I agree, but great men also say very wrong things, such as this on Iraq:
"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes.
The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected… We cannot, in any circumstances acquiesce to the non-utilisation of any weapons which are available to procure a speedy termination of the disorder which prevails on the frontier."
There is a cetrain irony in that civilised Europeans introduced Iraq to WMD… [/quote]
So, I’m guessing that you do not support the use of tear gas?
[quote]Lockwood wrote:
Reagan, or maybe as far back as Kennedy may sadly be the last of the truly great political speakers in America’s recent history - ‘great’, I mean, in their prophetic use of language as opposed to simply great speakers, such as even the most staunch of Repulicans has to admit Clinton clearly was (a great speaker).
[/quote]
Reagan, while a fine speaker/actor, never actually wrote any of his speeches. And, as for Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you…” He pretty much took that word for word from Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Now Churchill “We must endeavor to persevere.” genius. Though, a genius for language does not always equate to genius of thought. Not refering to Churchill of course.
I got an honest-to-god surge of adrenaline reading that.
[quote]hedo wrote:
“History will be kind to me because I intend to write it.”
[/quote]
Brooks Kubiks book “DINOSAUR TRAINING” has a few great ones from Churchill. Kinda fits the rest of the book I think.
Americans will always do the right thing, but only after they have exhausted all the other possibilities
My favorite is from his encounter with the Labor Party’s Attlee in the men’s room. The precise wording varies according to the source, but the point is the same:
Churchill stops by a men?s room where he runs into Labourite Clement Attlee, the man who replaced him as Prime Minister after WWII.
When Attlee took the next urinal, Churchill moved a few places away.
“My, my, Winston,” Attlee said. “Are we being modest?”
Churchill replied: “Not at all, Clement. It?s just that whenever you Labourite chaps see something that is large, privately owned and working well, you want to nationalize it.”
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
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.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
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.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), speech in the House of Commons, November 29, 1944
We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), speech in the House of Commons, July 14, 1940
We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire…Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), BBC radio broadcast, Feb 9, 1941
For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet, London
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. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965),
All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Winston Churchill
I like a man who grins when he fights.
Winston Churchill
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Winston Churchill
[quote]Ajax wrote:
My favorite is from his encounter with the Labor Party’s Attlee in the men’s room. The precise wording varies according to the source, but the point is the same:
Churchill stops by a men?s room where he runs into Labourite Clement Attlee, the man who replaced him as Prime Minister after WWII.
When Attlee took the next urinal, Churchill moved a few places away.
“My, my, Winston,” Attlee said. “Are we being modest?”
Churchill replied: “Not at all, Clement. It?s just that whenever you Labourite chaps see something that is large, privately owned and working well, you want to nationalize it.”[/quote]
I’ve not seen that quote before…awesome! Sounds like vintage Winny!