Winston Churchill

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

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

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

There is in the act of preparing, the moment you start caring.

Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.

The late M. Venizelos observed that in all her wars Englandhe should have said Britain, of coursealways wins one battlethe last.

Self-trust is the essence of heroism.

The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature.

More knowledge may be gained of a man’s real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral.

Lack of money is the root of all evil.

The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call common sense; a man of a strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent – for every effect a perfect cause – and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.

During my life, I have had a few nightmares which happened to me while I was wide awake.

Language is the dress of thought.

A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial.

Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends… Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds.

Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, which is the parent of instruction and the schoolmaster of life.

Gold will be slave or master.

The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or better ones; they are what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.

The public do not know enough to be experts, but know enough to decide between them.