Winston Churchill

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

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.

Thus, then, on the night of the tenth of May, at the outset of this mighty battle, I acquired the chief power in the State, which henceforth I wielded in ever-growing measure for five years and three months of world war, at the end of which time, all our enemies having surrendered unconditionally or being about to do so, I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs.

If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire.

I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.

Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.

Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems.

The first step toward success will be the biggest one.

Its kind of fun to do the impossible.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.

You will never know true freedom until you achieve financial freedom.

If my life has had a theme, I suppose it has been a typical American theme in that, for most of it, I have been looking for happiness and success.

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

No matter where you are in life, you’ll save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. The earlier in your life that you can learn that, the easier the rest of it will be.

We want people who hate to lose, like myself.

Be there for your kids. Later, when you need them, they’ll be there for you.

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.

Anyone who thinks my story is anywhere near over is sadly mistaken.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the ability to act effectively, in spite of fear.