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Quotations by Winston Churchill

The thoughtless act of a single day - To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.

We shall fight. Never surrender - We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

For a nation to tax itself into prosperity - We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

Pigs treat us as equals - I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

The courage to continue counts - Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

To be shot at - Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

Blood, toil, tears, and sweat - I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

You ask, what is our aim? Victory - You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty - Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Commonwealth and its Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

We shall not fail or falter - We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.

The people of London with one voice - The people of London with one voice would say to Hitler: "You have committed every crime under the sun. . . . We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst--and we will do our best."

Not made of sugar candy - We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy.

The danger of living by polls in wartime - Nothing is more dangerous in wartime than to live in the temperamental atmosphere of a Gallup Poll, always feeling one's pulse and taking one's temperature.

The human story is not mathematical - The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye.

Democracy and the many forms of government - Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Gratitude to British airmen - The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few

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