“If you cannot read them [books], at any rate handle them and, as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. Set them back on their shelves with your own hands. Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.”
Winston Churchill
Painting as a Pastime (Primary source)
Churchill’s slender volume on the therapeutic powers of amateur painting stands as a compelling meditation on the nature of genuine respite from the burdens of public life. Writing with characteristic vigor and psychological acuity, Churchill advances a proposition at once simple and profound: that true relaxation demands not mere cessation of activity, but rather a fundamental reorientation of mental energy.
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“You do your worst—and we will do our best.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Never give in—never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“I fight for my corner. I leave when the pub closes.”
— Winston Churchill Secondary sourceMore quotes by Winston Churchill →
“Promises may get thee friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Spanish girls make wonderful wives. I’ve never had one so I know.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“If you know that this life is all that you have, wouldn’t you make the most of it?”
— Ayn Rand Disputed“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt Primary source