June 2, 2016

A list of some of the best ‘one-liner’ Churchill  quotes

Searching the internet will return hundreds of short quotes attributed to Winston Churchill–many of which are incorrect. Here we examine a list of Churchill’s best ‘one-liners’ throughout his life.

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” —1898

“I object on principle to doing by legislation what properly belongs to human good feeling and charity.” -1902

“War never pays its dividends in cash on the money it costs.” —1901

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“Those who dealt in guineas were not usually of the impoverished class.” —1903 (The guinea, 21 shillings or £1/1/0, was sometimes featured in snooty adverts promoting high-priced goods in guineas rather than pounds.)

“Direct taxation was a great corrector of extravagance.” —1904

“The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.” —1905

“The recognition of their language is precious to a small people.” —1906

“Harsh laws are at times better than no laws at all.” —1906

“The British Constitution is mainly British common sense.” —1908

“Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.” —1909

“Mr. Jorrocks described fox hunting as providing all the glory of war with only 33 percent of its danger.” —1911

“The usefulness of a naval invention ceases when it is enjoyed by everyone else.” —1913

“The maxim of the British people is ‘Business as usual.'” —1914

“At the beginning of this war, megalomania was the only form of sanity.” —1915

“Honours should go where death and danger go.” —1916

“God for a month of power and a good shorthand writer!” —1916

“The First Sea Lord moves the fleet. No one else moves it.” —1917

“Bolshevism is a great evil…arisen out of great social evils.” —1919

“Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library.” —1921

“You must look at facts because they look at you.” —1925

“…a prospective surplus is always a milestone in a budget.” —1925

“Time and money are largely interchangeable terms.” —1926

“He spoke without a note, and almost without a point.” —1931 (about William Graham MP)

“It is not in our power to anticipate our destiny.” —1932

“France, though armed to the teeth, is pacifist to the core.” —1932

“War is very cruel. It goes on for so long.” —1937

“All wisdom is not new wisdom.” —1938

“Never…was so much owed by so many to so few.” —1940

“It is the time to dare and endure.” —1940

“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.” —1941

“If we win, nobody will care. If we lose, there will be nobody to care.” —1941

“We must beware of needless innovation, especially when guided by logic.” —1942

“We have a lot of anxieties, and one cancels out another.” —1943

“You cannot cure cancer by a majority.” —1946

“Craft is common both to skill and deceit.” —1947

“One ought to be just before one is generous.” —1947

“Vengeance is the most costly and dissipating of luxuries.” —1948

“The English never draw a line without blurring it.” —1948

“If you destroy a free market you create a black market.” —1949

“Nationalization of industry is the doom of trade unionism.” —1950

“Evils can be created much quicker than they can be cured.” —1951

“It is no part of my case that I am always right.” —1952

“I never take pleasure in human woe.” —1953

“Envisage—an unpleasant and overworked word.” —1953

“Dull, Duller, Dulles.” —1953 (of John Foster Dulles)