Winston Churchill
(page 4)

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

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 had never happened.

It is easy for an individual to move through those insensible gradations from left to right, but the act of crossing the Floor is one which requires serious attention. I am well informed on this matter for I have accomplished that difficult process, not only once, but twice.

Of course, when you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.

Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig! He looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

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

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

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.

There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.

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 show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.