March 5, 2013

25 Quotes Chosen to Motivate the Financial World

Many of those who read the Chartwell Bulletin and become involved in the activities of the Churchill Centre come from the world of business and finance.  Stoic Trading has recently compiled a list of motivational quotes from Churchill testifying to the continuing attraction.  Not surprisingly, many of the quotes are in error.  While the Churchill Centre always presents quotes authenticated by reliable sources, such as Richard Langworth’s Churchill by Himself, we nevertheless share the Stoic Trader’s list here [along with our corrections] as a way of illustrating how Churchill’s example continues to find application in contemporary life.

Click here for the Stoic Trader’s full list of quotations designed to motivate traders and analysts.

In the interests of accuracy, the Churchill Centre presents the following corrections to the Stoic Trader’s list:

1. “I love this war. I know it’s smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment — and yet — I can’t help it — I enjoy every second of it.” (A letter to a friend, 1916) ” >> Churchill’s word was “cannot” not “can’t” and it was stated, not written, to Violet Bonham Carter.

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5. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. (The Prodigal Project : Book I)” >> We don’t know what “The Prodigal Project” is, but this widespread misquote has no attribution to Churchill. (See the appendix “Red Herrings” in Richard Langworth’s Churchill By Himself.)

6. “It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. (Speech in the House of Commons, February 27, 1945)” >>Quotation is correct but date is 18 February.

7. “It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” >>Churchill used “farther” not “further.”

8. “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.”
>> Not Churchill. What he actually said was, “The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.” (also in “Red Herrings”).

9. “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
>> Not tracked to Churchill (“Red Herrings”).

12. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” >> While this is all over the web, the remark was by Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of State Cordell Hull, not Churchill. (“Red Herrings”).

15. “I wonder often whether any other generation has seen such astounding revolutions of data and values as those through which we have lived. Scarcely anything material or established which I was brought up to believe was permanent and vital, has lasted. Everything I was sure or taught to be sure was impossible, has happened. (The Fourth Hussars)” >> Correct, but the reference is to a chapter in Churchill’s autobiography My Early Life.

18. “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.” >> While he may have held these sentiments privately on certain occasions, no stated attribution to Churchill has ever been found (“Red Herrings”).

20. “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
>> Not traceable to Churchill—nor Lincoln, who is almost as often credited (“Red Herrings”).