Brilliant aphorisms from Winston Churchill

He was not only a great politician, but also an excellent orator. Although he is now gone, his legacy lives on with many of the funniest and wittiest quotes he left behind.

Winston Churchill has given some of the most inspiring, passionate and articulate speeches with brilliant quotes that you may not have ever heard, including the "we will never surrender" speech. From the book "Never Give In", Tirana Observer has selected the best of them.

• We live by what we get, but we make life by what they give.
• Good taxes do not exist.
• We argue that a nation trying to tax itself to prosperity is like a man sitting on a bucket and trying to get up from its handle.
• Democracy is the worst form of government after all.
• Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be struck, others see it as a cow to be milked, but few see it as a powerful horse that pulls the cart.
• The undivided vice of capitalism is the unequal distribution of blessings; the indivisible virtue of socialism is the equal distribution of poverty.
• A nation that taxes itself for prosperity is like a man in a bucket, trying to pull himself up by the handle.
• A pacifist is someone who feeds a crocodile, hoping to be the last to be eaten.
• Winning problems are more enjoyable than wrestling problems, but they are not easier.
• From now on, I will never end a sentence with a preposition.
• A bigot is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject either.
• Nancy Astor: "Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison you." Churchill: "If I were your husband I would drink it."
• The lie has made it halfway around the world, when the truth has just begun.
• Sometimes you will stumble upon the truth, but most of us get up and move on as if nothing happened.
• If you're headed for hell, keep going.
• It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Quotes, when etched in memory, give you good thoughts. They also encourage you to read authors and search for others.
• Do you have enemies? Good. It means that you fought for something, at some stage in your life.
• If you have ten thousand rules, you destroy all respect for the law.
• You can always trust the Americans to do the right thing after they've tried everything else.
• History will be kind to me, as I intend to write it.
• The further back you look, the further ahead you are likely to see.
• I am ready to meet my Maker. Is my Creator prepared for the ordeal of meeting me, that is another matter.
• Truth is indisputable, evil may attack it, ignorance may mock it, but in the end, there it is.
• A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.
• To improve is to change; to be perfect means to change often.
• Politics is the ability to predict what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And having the ability to then explain why it didn't happen.
• Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.
• A joke is something very serious.
• A POW is someone who tries to kill you and fails, and then begs you not to.
• All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: liberty, justice, honor, duty, mercy, and hope.
• Although I am personally very satisfied with the explosives of the moment, I feel that we should not stay on the path of improvement.
• Although prepared for tribulations, I prefer them to be postponed.
• Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference.
• Baldwin thought Europe was boring, and Chamberlain thought it was only bigger than Birmingham.
• Battles are won by destruction and maneuver. The bigger the general, the more he will contribute to the maneuvers, the less he will ask for havoc.
• Before Alamein we never had a win. After Alamein we never lost.
• Short words are best, and old words are even better.
• Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the secret to unlocking our potential.
• Courage is rightly considered the first human quality, because it is the quality that guarantees all the others.
• Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit and listen.
• Criticism may not be pleasant, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It requires attention that the state of things be healthy.
• Difficulties endured are opportunities gained.
• Don't let grand plans for a new world divert your energies from preserving what's left of the old world.
• Eating words has never caused me to sample.
• Everyone has a bad day and some days are longer than others.
• For better or for worse, mastery of the air is today the supreme expression of military power, and fleets and armies, though vital and important, must still recognize their subordinate rank.
• For my part, I say it will be better if all parties leave the past to history, especially now that I propose to write history myself.
• From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
• The great and the good are seldom the same man.
• He has all the virtues I hate and none of the vices I admire.
• Healthy citizens are the greatest asset a country can have.
• A pessimist sees difficulties in every opportunity; An optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.
• A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you, and then asks you not to kill him.
• All great things are simple, and many of them may be expressed in a single word, liberty, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
• Although I am quite satisfied with the existing explosives, I feel that we should not move in the direction of improving them.
• Although I was prepared for martyrdom, I preferred to leave it for later.
• The peacemaker is the one who tries to feed the crocodile, hoping that it will eat the last one.
• Behavior is a small thing that makes a big difference.
• Battles are won by massacres and maneuvers. The great general, the more he gives priority to maneuver, the less he leaves room for slaughter.
• Courage has rightly been hailed as the first human quality...because it is the quality that guarantees the others.
• Criticism may not be acceptable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function that pain has in the human body. It draws attention to the unhealthy state of things.
• Everyone has their day and some days are longer than others.
• For better or worse, mastery of the air is today the ultimate expression of military power. Fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a lower rank.
• As nice as the strategy is, I occasionally look at the results.
• I always avoid giving prophecies in advance because it is much better to prophesy after a development has already happened.
• I am always ready to learn even though I never like to be taught.
• I'm certainly not one to need prodding. In fact, if I am anything, I am the drive itself.
• I like pigs. Dogs look down on us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
• I've gotten more out of alcohol than alcohol has out of me.
• I like that man who smiles when he fights.
• I'll be drunk, miss, but in the morning I'll be sober and you'll be ugly again.
• If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and ask me for advice, I would make the English Straits round every country. And the atmosphere was such that anyone who tried to fly would catch fire.
• If you're walking through hell, don't stop.
• In war, as in life, it is often necessary after the failure of a scheme to seize upon the best alternative open, and if there is one, it would be folly not to work with all one's strength for it.
• It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain can be caught at a given time.
• It is better to have power to give than to take.
• Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening the first bottle of champagne; getting to know him was like drinking champagne.
• Politics is not a game, it is the most serious business.
• When the war of the giants ends, then the war of the dwarves begins.
• Just days after Chamberlain returns from Munich brandishing his infamous scrap of paper, Winston Churchill predicts that war is certainly not averted. He was right. "This is just the beginning. This is only the first sip, the first taste of a bitter cup that will be offered to us year after year, if we do not recover our high moral health or military energy as of old."
• Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill, 65, formed his own government “I would say to the House, the same thing I said to those who joined this government. I have nothing else to offer you but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us a bitter experience. We have months of suffering and war ahead of us. You mean, how is our policy? I tell you: It is a war by sea, land and air, with all our might and all the strength that God can give us, in a war against this monstrous tyranny. You will ask: what is our goal? I have only one answer: Victory at all costs, no matter how long or difficult our path is, without victory there is no survival".
• After the evacuation at Dunkirk, Winston Churchill calms his nation's euphoria and offers a solution: "Although large tracts of Europe and many other countries have fallen or will fall under the clutches of the Gestapo and the hateful tools of the Nazi regime, we will not fail. We will go to the end. We will fight in France, we will fight in the seas and oceans, in the air and we will defend our island at all costs, we will fight in the mountains, fields, hills and roads, we will never surrender".
• Winston Churchill stands stoic and inspires the British Air Force pilots to victory. "The war in France is over. I'm waiting for the Battle of Britain to begin. The survival of Christian civilization depends on this battle. Our British lives and the continuity of our empire depend on it. The enemy can quickly turn against us. Hitler knows he must break us on this island or he will lose the war. If we defeat him, all of Europe will be free, and the life of the world will continue to be enlightened, including the United States of America. Therefore, let's continue our duty".
• As the Battle of Britain reaches its climax, Churchill praises the bravery of British pilots. "The gratitude of every house in our island, in our Empire, and indeed in all the world, except the guilty, goes to the British pilots, who fearlessly went to the end of their challenge at mortal perils. "Never before in a human conflict has the majority been grateful to the minority."
• Winston Churchill warns of the threat of Soviet Russia. This stopped America's retreat into isolation and led to the creation of NATO. "From Stettin (Szczecin) in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic Sea, an iron curtain has descended on the continents. In the background lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, and all these famous cities lie in what is called the Soviet sphere.
• On his 80th birthday, Winston Churchill shows that he continues to be a master of the word: "I am glad that my words have touched not only the parliament, but the whole nation. The will of the nation was determined and relentless, unconquerable. You must remember that I have always earned my living by my pen and my tongue. It was a lion-hearted nation. I had the good fortune to give this lion nation a feast".
• When you are winning the war almost everything that happens can be claimed as just and wise.
• When the eagles are silent, the parrots start chirping.
• The price of greatness is responsibility.
• History is written by the winners.

/Tirana Observer/