Max Morris - The Smart Words and Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill

For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or . Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Image credit: iStock Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1582-0 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1585-1 Printed in China CONTENTS DOMESTIC POLITICS The Admiralty has demanded six, The Treasury said we could only have four so we compromised on eight. 1944 The English never draw a line without blurring it. I see it is said that leaders should keep their ears to the ground. I see it is said that leaders should keep their ears to the ground.

All I can say is that the British nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are detected in that somewhat ungainly posture. Dont get torpedoed; for if I am left alone your colleagues will eat me. LETTER TO THEN PM DAVID LLOYD GEORGE WHO WAS VISITING RUSSIA, 1916 Reconstructing a Cabinet is like solving a kaleidoscopic jigsaw puzzle. An announcement of a prospective surplus is always a milestone in a budget. Everyone threw blame on me. I have noticed that they nearly always do.

I suppose it is because they think I shall be able to bear it best. ON STANDING AS A CANDIDATE FOR ELECTION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND LOSING If this is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised. AFTER HIS ELECTION DEFEAT, 1945 Why should I accept the Order of the Garter from His Majesty when people have just given me the Order of the Boot? AFTER HIS ELECTION DEFEAT, 1945 Their will was resolute and remorseless, and as it proved, unconquerable. It fell to me to express it. ON THE BRITISH PEOPLE The British nation is unique in this respect: they are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst. 1941 We shall not be judged by the criticisms of our opponents but by the consequences of our acts.

PONDERING POLITICS 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 didnt happen. For my own part I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities which he excites among his opponents. I have always set myself not merely to relish but to deserve thoroughly their censure. It would be a great reform in politics if wisdom could be made to spread as easily and as rapidly as folly. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings.

The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. 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. HOUSE OF COMMONS MARCH 26, 1936 An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last. To think you can make a man richer by putting on a tax is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to pull himself up by the handles. All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honour; duty; mercy; hope.

Government of the duds, by the duds and for the duds. ON SOCIALISM Change is agreeable to the human mind, and gives satisfaction, sometimes short-lived, to ardent and anxious public opinion. The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. I dont see any way of realising our hopes for a world organisation in six days. Even the Almighty took seven. TO ROOSEVELT ON THE LIKELY DURATION OF THE YALTA CONFERENCE WITH STALIN, 1945 He is asked to stand, he wants to sit, he is expected to lie.