Great Throughts Treasury

"Don't be careless about yourselves--on the other hand not too careful. Live well but do not flaunt it. Laugh a little and teach your men to laugh--get good humor under fire--war is a game that's played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can."

"Don't be nervous. Do just as I do. Whenever I get up to speak, I always make a point of taking a good look around the audience. Then I say to myself, 'What a lot of silly fools.' And then I always feel better."

"Don't talk to me about Naval tradition! It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash."

"Don't interrupt me while I'm interrupting."

"Don't take 'no' for an answer, never submit to failure. Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance. You will make all kinds of mistakes, but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even s"

"Doubts [can] be swept away only by deeds."

"Don't worry about avoiding temptation... As you grow older, it will avoid you."

"During their lifetimes, every man and woman will stumble across a great opportunity. Sadly, most of them will simply pick themselves up, dust themselves down and carry on as if nothing ever happened."

"Each beat guides me in Your direction."

"During my life, I have often had to eat my own words, and on the whole I have found them a wholesome diet"

"Elderly people and those in authority cannot always be relied upon to take enlightened and comprehending views of what they call the indiscretions of youth."

"Elections exist for the sake of the House of Commons and not the House of Commons for the sake of elections."

"Eating my words has never given me indigestion."

"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."

"Enemy submarines are to be called U-Boats. The term submarine is to be reserved for Allied under water vessels. U-Boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships, while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs."

"even the Almighty took seven."

"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, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

"Every influence, every motive that provokes the spirit of murder among men, impels these mountaineers to deeds of treachery and violence. The strong aboriginal propensity to kill, inherent in all human beings, has in these valleys been preserved in unexampled strength and vigor. That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword ? the tenets and principles of which are instinct with incentives to slaughter and which in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men ? stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism. The love of plunder, always a characteristic of hill tribes, is fostered by the spectacle of opulence and luxury which, to their eyes, the cities and plains of the south display. A code of honor not less punctilious than that of old Spain, is supported by vendettas as implacable as those of Corsica."

"Every dog has his day, and I have kept these [very heavy guns] for a quarter of a century in the hope that they would have their chance. What a way to give life to these cannons by comparing them figuratively with a dog!"

"Every garden presents innumerable fascinating problems."

"Every morn brought forth a noble chance, and every chance brought forth a noble knight."

"Every man should ask himself each day whether he is not too readily accepting negative solutions."

"Every pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, but every optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty"

"Every offensive lost its force as it proceeded. It was like throwing a bucket of water over the floor. It first rushed forward, then soaked forward, and finally stopped altogether until another bucket could be brought."

"Everybody has a right to pronounce foreign names as he chooses."

"Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage."

"Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others."

"Everybody is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people?s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage."

"Everybody has always underrated the Russians. They keep their own secrets alike from foe and friends."

"Everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that?"

"Experts should be on tap but never on top."

"Far be it from me to paint a rosy picture of the future...But I should be failing in my duty if, on the other side, I were not to convey the true impression, that this great nation is getting into its war stride."

"Extolling the virtues of conservation of energy, Churchill advised, Never stand when you can sit, and never sit when you can lie down."

"Fanatic. One who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

"Far be it from me to paint a rosy picture of the future. Indeed, I do not think we should be justified in using any but the most somber tones and colors while our people, our Empire and indeed the whole English-speaking world are passing through a dark and deadly valley. But I should be failing in my duty if, on the other wise, I were not to convey the true impression, that a great nation is getting into its war stride."

"Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision."

"First there are the Jews who, dwelling in every country throughout the world, identify themselves with that country, enter into its national life and, while adhering faithfully to their own religion, regard themselves as citizens in the fullest sense of the State which has received them. Such a Jew living in England would say, 'I am an English man practicing the Jewish faith.' This is a worthy conception, and useful in the highest degree. We in Great Britain well know that during the great struggle the influence of what may be called the 'National Jews' in many lands was cast preponderatingly on the side of the Allies; and in our own Army Jewish soldiers have played a most distinguished part, some rising to the command of armies, others winning the Victoria Cross for valor."

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

"Forget this quite clear, every time we have to decide between Europe and the open sea, it is always the open sea we shall choose. Every time I have to decide between you [Charles de Gaulle] and Roosevelt, I shall always choose Roosevelt."

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."

"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

"For each and for all, as for the Royal Navy, the watchword should be, "Carry on, and dread nought.""

"First, Poland has been again overrun by two of the great powers which held her in bondage for 150 years but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation. The heroic defense of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible, and that she will rise again like a rock which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave but which remains a rock."

"For five years I have talked to the House on these matters ? not with very great success. I have watched this famous island descending incontinently, fecklessly, the stairway which leads to a dark gulf. It is a fine broad stairway at the beginning, but after a bit the carpet ends. A little farther on there are only flagstones, and a little farther on still these break beneath your feet.... Look back upon the last five years ? since, that is to say, Germany began to rearm in earnest and openly to seek revenge ? historians a thousand years hence will still be baffled by the mystery of our affairs. They will never understand how it was that a victorious nation, with everything in hand, suffered themselves to be brought low, and to cast away all that they had gained by measureless sacrifice and absolute victory ? gone with the wind! Now the victors are the vanquished, and those who threw down their arms in the field and sued for an armistice are striding on to world mastery. That is the position ? that is the terrible transformation that has taken place bit by bit."

"For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself."

"For my own part I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities which he excites among his opponents. I have always set myself not merely to relish but to deserve thoroughly their censure."

"For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank."

"From the days of Spartacus, Weishophf, Karl Marx, Trotski, Belacoon, Rosa Luxenburg, and Ema Goldman, this world conspiracy has been steadily growing. This conspiracy played a definite recognizable role in the tragedy of the French revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th Century. And now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their head and have become the undisputed masters of that enormous empire."

"George Bernard Shaw (Telegram inviting Churchill to opening night of Pygmalion): Am reserving two tickets for you for my premiere. Come and bring a friend - if you have one. Winston Churchill wired back: Impossible to be present for the first performance. Will attend the second - if there is one."

"Give me the facts, and I will twist them the way I want, to suit my argument."