Winston Churchill

The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.

I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.

For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank.

If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.

It is a fine game to play - the game of politics - and it is well worth waiting for a good hand before really plunging.

We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

No crime is so great as daring to excel.

The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.

For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.

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.

I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.

We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.

I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.

My wife and I tried two or three times in the last 40 years to have breakfast together, but it was so disagreeable we had to stop.

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.

The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.