Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born in 1874 in Woodstock, England, and died in London in 1965 at the age of 90. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, from 1940 to 1945, and also served a second term from 1951 to 1955.
Winston Churchill was probably the greatest wartime leader of the 20th century and was known for his inspiring speeches and quotes.
Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, an historian, and a writer. He is the only British Prime Minister to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was also the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States – his mother was actually American.
During the 1930’s, Churchill warned about German rearmament. Ironically, he found himself, as Prime Minister, having to contend with the fact that his entreaties had fallen on deaf ears and he was saddled with the result.
Churchill’s oratorical skills are legendary and his speeches and radio broadcasts inspired the British people. He led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured.
Notwithstanding the debt of gratitude owed to him for his outstanding leadership during the war, the British electorate, in its wisdom, voted him out of office in the first postwar election also in 1945.
Named the Greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 poll, Churchill is widely regarded as being among the most influential people in British history.
One of his most famous speeches at the beginning of the war included these historical words.
“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.”
However, Churchill did have a less serious side to his character and frequently displayed an acerbic wit. He was once accused by a female member of parliament of being drunk.
She is reported to have told him, “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more you are disgustingly drunk.”
Churchill responded, “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow, I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”
Browse these Winston Churchill quotes for more of his wit and wisdom:
- If you’re going through hell, keep going.
- Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
- Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
- Never, never, never give up.
- History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
- Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
- You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
- Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
- A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
- You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.
- An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
- I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
- I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
- Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
- The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Those were some of the the best known quotes from Winston Churchill.
They indicate that his hatred of Naziism was only marginally higher than his hatred of Socialism.
With the passing of the years, western society has been overtaken by a veritable tsunami of political correctness, one element of which is a different perception of war and its rules.
Churchill is now considered by some as nothing less than a war criminal!
How do you rate Churchill as a leader in wartime? Do you know why he was rejected once the war was over?
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