Great Throughts Treasury

"But now let me return to my theme of the many changes that have taken place since I was last here. There is a jocular saying: ?To improve is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often.? I had to use that once or twice in my long career."

"By an uncompleted process of terror, by an iniquitous land settlement, by the virtual proscription of the Catholic religion, by the bloody deeds already described, he cut new gulfs between the nations and the creeds. 'Hell or Connaught' were the terms he thrust upon the native inhabitants, and they for their part, across three hundred years, have used as their keenest expression of hatred 'The Curse of Cromwell on you.' ? Upon all of us there still lies 'the curse of Cromwell'."

"By being so long in the lowest form I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys. They all went on to learn Latin and Greek and splendid things like that. But I was taught English. We were considered such dunces that we could learn only English. Mr. Somervell -- a most delightful man, to whom my debt is great -- was charged with the duty of teaching the stupidest boys the most disregarded thing -- namely, to write mere English. He knew how to do it. He taught it as no one else has ever taught it. Not only did we learn English parsing thoroughly, but we also practiced continually English analysis. . . Thus I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence -- which is a noble thing. And when in after years my schoolfellows who had won prizes and distinction for writing such beautiful Latin poetry and pithy Greek epigrams had to come down again to common English, to earn their living or make their way, I did not feel myself at any disadvantage. Naturally I am biased in favor of boys learning English. I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honor, and Greek as a treat. But the only thing I would whip them for would be not knowing English. I would whip them hard for that."

"But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness. In a moment the fruits of patient toil, the prospects of material prosperity, the fear of death itself, are flung aside. The more emotional Pathans are powerless to resist. All rational considerations are forgotten. Seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis?as dangerous and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such. While the more generous spirits among the tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodthirstiness, poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from the influence of others, the hopes of plunder and the joy of fighting. Thus whole nations are roused to arms. Thus the Turks repel their enemies, the Arabs of the Soudan break the British squares, and the rising on the Indian frontier spreads far and wide. In each case civilization is confronted with militant Mahommedanism. The forces of progress clash with those of reaction. The religion of blood and war is face to face with that of peace."

"By being so long in the lowest form I gained an immense advantage over the cleverest boys? I got into my bones the essential structure of the normal British sentence - which is a noble thing."

"By being so long in the lowest form [at Harrow] I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys? I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence - which is a noble thing. Naturally I am biased in favor of boys learning English; I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honor, and Greek as a treat."

"By its sudden collapse... the proud German army has once again proved the truth of the saying, 'The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet'."

"Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second, if there is one."

"Canada is the linchpin of the English-speaking world. Canada, with those relations of friendly, affectionate intimacy with the United States on the one hand and with her unswerving fidelity to the British Commonwealth and the Motherland on the other, is the link which joins together these great branches of the human family, a link which, spanning the oceans, brings the continents into their true relation and will prevent in future generations any growth of division between the proud and the happy nations of Europe and the great countries which have come into existence in the New World."

"By noon it was clear that the Socialists would have a majority. At luncheon my wife said to me, 'It may well be a blessing in disguise.' I replied, 'At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised.'"

"By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach."

"Certainly the prolonged education indispensable to the progress of Society is not natural to mankind. It cuts against the grain. A boy would like to follow his father in pursuit of food or prey. He would like to be doing serviceable things so far as his utmost strength allowed. He would like to be earning wages however small to help to keep up the home. He would like to have some leisure of his own to use or misuse as he pleased. He would ask little more than the right to work or starve. And then perhaps in the evenings a real love of learning would come to those who are worthy ? and why try to stuff in those who are not? ? and knowledge and thought would open the ?magic casements? of the mind."

"Chamberlain loves the working man - he loves to see him work."

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."

"Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection."

"Churchill kept perspective on the crowds that gathered to hear him speak by conceding they would be twice as big if gathered to see him hanged."

"Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he didn?t know where he was going, he didn?t know where he was? and he did it all at taxpayers? expense."

"Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds? Socialite: My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course... Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds? Socialite: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?! Churchill: Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price."

"Churchill used words for different purposes: to argue for moral and political causes, to advocate courses of action in the social, national and international spheres, and to tell the story of his own life and that of Britain and its place in the world."

"Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it."

"Civilization had been restored to the Island. But now the political fabric which nurtured it was about to be overthrown. Hitherto strong men armed had kept the house. Now a child, a weakling, a vacillator, a faithless, feckless creature, succeeded to the warrior throne."

"Churchill was in the lavatory in the House of Commons and his secretary knocked on the door and said: Excuse me Prime Minister, but the Lord Privy Seal wishes to speak to you. After a pause Churchill replied: Tell His Lordship: I'm sealed on The Privy and can only deal with one shit at a time."

"Churchill: The strangling of Bolshevism at its birth would have been an untold blessing to the human race. Mr. Seymour Cocks (Labor Party): If that had happened we should have lost the 1939 -45 war. Churchill: No, it would have prevented that war."

"Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend."

"Civilization will not last, freedom will not survive, peace will not be kept, unless a very large majority of mankind unite together to defend them and show themselves possessed of a constabulary power before which barbaric and atavistic forces will."

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."

"Criticism is easy; achievement is difficult."

"Courage is what it takes to get up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

"Cultured people are merely the glittering scum which floats upon the deep river of production."

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop."

"Curse ruthless time! Curse our mortality. How cruelly short is the allotted span for all we must cram into it."

"Danger -- if you meet it promptly and without flinching -- you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!"

"Death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey; hardship our garment; constancy and valor our only shield. We must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible."

"Death came very easily to her. She had lived such an innocent and loving life of service to others and held such a simple faith, that she had no fears at all and did not seem to mind very much."

"Decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent. [of Stanley Baldwin's policies]"

"Delight in smooth sounding platitudes, refusal to face unpleasant facts... genuine love of peace and pathetic belief that love can be its sole foundation... the utter devotion of the Liberals to sentiment apart from reality ...though free from wickedness or evil design, played a definite part in the unleashing upon the world of horrors and miseries [WWII]"

"Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

"Democracy is the best form of the worst type of government."

"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won"

"Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."

"Do not complicate things, there will have to complicate things for themselves."

"Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions."

"Dinner would have been splendid...if the wine had been as cold as the soup, the beef as rare as the service, the brandy as old as the fish, and the maid as willing as the Duchess."

"Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old."

"Do not criticize your government when out of the country. Never cease to do so when at home."

"Do not let us speak of darker days, let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days: these are great days-the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race."

"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."

"Do stop interrupting me while I am interrupting you!"

"Do you know why the nose of the bull dog is sloped backwards? So it can keep on breathing without ever letting go."

"Don't argue about difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves."