The new movie “Darkest Hour” biographies Winston Churchill’s role in British politics and policy during World War II.
While I haven’t seen the film yet, I have long been a fan of Churchill; a fan of his resolve, steadfastness, and courage to say and do what is right – regardless of the audience or potential cost. I believe the WWII forged in Churchill the kind of character only great challenges can facilitate. In some of the world’s darkest hours come the most powerful and courageous convictions. Below, I’ve shared several of my favorite quotes from Churchill. I see the wisdom in these quotes as “self evident”. Enjoy!
“To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often.”
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”
“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.”
“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
“The price of greatness is responsibility.”
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
“It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them.”
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG difference.”
“Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.”
“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”
“Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.”
“There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right and not to fear to do or say what you believe to be right.”
“What is adequacy? Adequacy is no standard at all.”
“If we open a quarrel between the past and the present we shall find that we have lost the future.”
“In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”
“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
