“I am reminded of the professor who in his declining hours was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, Verify your quotations.”
Winston Churchill
Churchill reflecting on the need to fact-check his own speeches, as he considered whether he was the first to use the phrase unconditional surrender as a war aim.
The Second World War (Primary source)
Churchill’s six-volume memoir and history of World War II, chronicling his leadership as Britain’s wartime Prime Minister. Combining personal experience with strategic analysis, it covers major battles, diplomatic negotiations, and key decisions that shaped Allied victory. The work earned Churchill the Nobel Prize in Literature.
More about “The Second World War” →
“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“We may now picture this great Fleet, with its flotillas and cruisers, steaming slowly out of Portland Harbour, squadron by squadron, scores of gigantic castles of steel wending their way across the misty, shining sea, like giants bowed in anxious thought. We may picture them again as darkness fell, eighteen miles of warships running at high speed and in absolute blackness through the Narrow Straits, bearing with them into the broad waters of the North the safeguard of considerable affairs […] The king’s ships were at sea.”
— Winston Churchill Primary sourceMore quotes by Winston Churchill →
“Approve not of him that commends all you say.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Take counsel in wine, but resolve afterwards in water.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Winston Churchill Disputed“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source