winston Churchill

“A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.”

“A joke is a very serious thing.”

“An aphorism is not an aphorism unless you know what it means.”

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

“Democracy is the worst system devised by the wit of man, except for all the others.”

“Kites rise highest against the wind--not with it.”

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

“I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors.  I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.”

“I have always considered that the substitution of the internal combustion engine for the horse marked a very gloomy milestone in the progress of mankind.”

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” 

“It is a good thing for the uneducated man to read books of quotations… The quotations, when engraved upon the memory, give you good thoughts.  They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.”

“It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.”

“Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”

“Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.”

“Sunshine is my quest.” 

“Sure I am this, that you have only to endure to conquer.  You have only to persevere to save yourselves.”

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

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

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

“The maxim of the British people is ‘Business as usual.’ ”

“The nation had the lion's heart.  I had the luck to give the roar.”

“The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.”

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

“The reason for having diplomatic relations is not to confer a compliment, but to secure a convenience.”

“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”

“There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.”

“True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.”

“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”

“When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened.”

“Without victory there is no survival!”

“Writing a book is an adventure:  to begin with it is a toy and amusement; then it becomes a master, and then it becomes a tyrant; and the last phase is just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude--you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”