Nothing can save England if she will not save herself. If we lose faith in ourselves, in our capacity to guide and govern, if we lose our will to live, then indeed our story is told.
Who’s in or out, who moves the grand machine, Nor stirs my curiosity, or spleen; Secrets of state no more I wish to know Than secret movements of a puppet-show; Let but the puppets move, I’ve my desire, Unseen the hand which guides the master wire.
The cemetery is full of indispensable people.
Victory is not final. Defeat is not failure. It’s all about courage.
Expert knowledge is limited knowledge.
Those good at war aren’t good at peace, and those good at peace aren’t good at war.
Only changes in mindsets can extend the frontiers of the possible.
It is of no account; after all, the old bird does not fly far from his nest.
I get my exercise being a pallbearer for those of my friends who believed in regular running and calisthenics.
Science has given to this generation the means of unlimited disaster or of unlimited progress. There will remain the greater task of directing knowledge lastingly towards the purpose of peace and human good.
One cannot leap a chasm in two jumps.
If you recognize anyone it does not mean you like them.
An iron curtain has descended over Europe.
I never slept as soundly as the night following Pearl Harbor. For I knew that The American Race would now be entering the war and it would never be the same.
A hopeful disposition is not the sole qualification to be a prophet.
Apt analogies are among the most formidable weapons of the rhetorician.
Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear – I fear greatly – the storm will not pass. It will rage and it will roar, even more loudly, even more widely.
Hatred plays the same part in government as acid in chemistry.
I am a sporting man. I always like to give trains and aeroplanes a fair chance of getting away.
Life is a test and this world a place of trial. Always the problems – or it may be the same problem – will be presented to every generation in different forms.