“I felt as if I were walking with Destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.”
Winston Churchill (verified)
Churchill upon becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, during the Second World War
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” →
“During these last crowded days of the political crisis, my pulse had not quickened at any moment. I took it all as it came. But I cannot conceal from the reader of this truthful account that as I went to bed at about 3 A.M., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with Destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial. Eleven years in the political wilderness had freed me from ordinary party antagonisms. My warnings over the last six years had been so numerous, so detailed, and were now so terribly vindicated, that no one could gainsay me. I could not be reproached either for making the war or with want of preparation for it. I thought I knew a good deal about it all, and I was sure I should not fail. Therefore, although impatient for the morning, I slept soundly and had no need for cheering dreams. Facts are better than dreams.”
Winston Churchill (verified)
“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.”
— Winston Churchill (verified)“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 (verified)“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”
— Winston Churchill (verified)“The maxim Nothing avails but perfection may be spelt shorter: Paralysis.”
— Winston Churchill (verified)More quotes by Winston Churchill →
“You never kill any one that you want to kill in a war.”
— Ernest Hemingway (verified)“Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
— Ernest Hemingway (verified)“Silly people—and there were many, not only in enemy countries—might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand blood-letting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyze their war effort. They would be just a vague blur on the horizon to friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people. But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch.”
— Winston Churchill (verified)“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter) who didn’t read all the time—none, zero. You’d be amazed how much Warren reads—and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”
— Charlie Munger (verified)