The Top 101 Winston Churchill Quotes

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Winston Churchill is one of the most iconic figures of the 20^th century. With that in mind, check out the top 101 Winston Churchill quotes.

Table of Contents

#101 – 100. Winston Churchill Quotes

101. “God for a month of power and a good shorthand writer!”

100. “A lady came up to me one day and said ‘Sir! You are drunk’, to which I replied ‘I am drunk today madam, and tomorrow I shall be sober but you will still be ugly.”

#99 – 90. Winston Churchill Quotes

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

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

97. “Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library.”

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

95. “…a prospective surplus is always a milestone in a budget.”

94. “The maxim of the British people is ‘Business as usual.’”

93. “Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”

92. “If you are going through hell, keep going.”

91. “My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best.”

90. “Craft is common both to skill and deceit.”

#89 – 80. Winston Churchill Quotes

89. “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.”

88. “The English never draw a line without blurring it.”

87. “War is very cruel. It goes on for so long.”

86. “In finance, everything that is agreeable is unsound and everything that is sound is disagreeable.”

85. “France, though armed to the teeth, is pacifist to the core.”

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

83. “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

82. “Don’t interrupt me while I’m interrupting.”

81. “At the beginning of this war, megalomania was the only form of sanity.”

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

#79 – 70. Winston Churchill Quotes

79. “Politics is 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.”

78. “The First Sea Lord moves the fleet. No one else moves it.”

77. “Broadly speaking short words are best and the old words when short, are best of all.”

76. “It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them.”

75. “Never…was so much owed by so many to so few.”

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

73. “You have enemies? Good. It means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

72. “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”

71. “Vengeance is the most costly and dissipating of luxuries.”

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

#69 – 60. Winston Churchill Quotes

69. “The recognition of their language is precious to a small people.”

68. “There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”

67. “There is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has it exceptions.”

66. “All wisdom is not new wisdom.”

65. “In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”

64. “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

63. “What is adequacy? Adequacy is no standard at all.”

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

61. “It is no part of my case that I am always right.”

60. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

#59 – 50. Winston Churchill Quotes

59. “All I can say is that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.”

58. “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 often no longer strong.”

57. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

56. “The usefulness of a naval invention ceases when it is enjoyed by everyone else.”

55. “Mr. Jorrocks described fox hunting as providing all the glory of war with only 33 percent of its danger.”

54. “Time and money are largely interchangeable terms.”

53. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

52. “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

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

50. “The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.”

#49 – 40. Winston Churchill Quotes

49. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

48. “You cannot cure cancer by a majority.”

47. “When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”

46. “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

45. “We must beware of needless innovation, especially when guided by logic.”

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

43. “The first duty of the university is to teach wisdom, not a trade; character, not technicalities. We want a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of engineers.”

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

41. “Everyone has his day, and some days last longer than others.”

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

#39 – 30. Winston Churchill Quotes

39. “It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.”

38. “It is the time to dare and endure.”

37. “The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.”

36. “To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often.”

35. “I never take pleasure in human woe.”

34. “Honours should go where death and danger go.”

33. “Every man should ask himself each day whether he is not too readily accepting negative solutions.”

32. “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, Never yield to force, Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

31. “There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right and not to fear to do or say what you believe to be right.”

30. “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.”

#29 – 20. Winston Churchill Quotes

29. “It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

28. “Nationalization of industry is the doom of trade unionism.”

27. “I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

26. “Harsh laws are at times better than no laws at all.”

25. “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.”

24. “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

23. “For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.”

22. “It is not in our power to anticipate our destiny.”

21. “Envisage—an unpleasant and overworked word.”

20. “The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”

#19 – 10. Winston Churchill Quotes

19. “We have a lot of anxieties, and one cancels out another.”

18. “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”

17. “He spoke without a note, and almost without a point.”

16. “Evils can be created much quicker than they can be cured.”

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

14. “We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.”

13. “Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy then an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then it becomes a tyrant and, in the last stage, just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”

12. “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

11. “One ought to be just before one is generous.”

10. “The British Constitution is mainly British common sense.”