Category: Fake Quotes

“Lousy”: Winston S. Churchill on Baths and Bathtubs

“Lousy”: Winston S. Churchill on Baths and Bathtubs

"When Ministers of the Crown speak like this [there is] no need to wonder why they are getting increasingly into bad odour. I had even asked myself whether you, Mr. Speaker, would admit the word LOUSY as a Parliamentary expression in referring to the Administration, provided, of course, it was not intended in a contemptuous sense but purely as one of factual narration."

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Churchill on Foreign Aliens: Did He Say, “Collar the Lot”?

Churchill on Foreign Aliens: Did He Say, “Collar the Lot”?

"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period, is in the highest degree odious….Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilisation." —WSC

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Wikipedia: Churchill’s World War Accounts, History or Memoirs?

Wikipedia: Churchill’s World War Accounts, History or Memoirs?

It is important to get this right, because Churchill's accounts of the two world wars are often incorrectly described as histories. He was adamant that this was a job for later historians.

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“Greatest Law Giver”: The Truth behind Churchill’s Mussolini Bouquets

“Greatest Law Giver”: The Truth behind Churchill’s Mussolini Bouquets

It has been observed that politicians often say nice things about foreign leaders when they owe them lots of money. As Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1927, Churchill negotiated Italy’s payment of her war debt to Britain, which Mussolini was still honoring in 1933. But this is too flippant, and there is more to the question. 

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“Greeks Fight Like Heroes – Heroes Fight Like Greeks”: Not by Churchill

“Greeks Fight Like Heroes – Heroes Fight Like Greeks”: Not by Churchill

Q: Did Churchill say this about the Greeks? “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.” This quote is attrib­uted to Churchill and some­times accom­pa­nied by an audio clip which does not sound like him. My assump­tion is that he may have writ­ten it but the words were deliv­ered by some­one else. Is there any source of this quote or pos­si­ble mis­quote? It is used reg­u­lar­ly by the Greeks dur­ing Ohi Day cel­e­bra­tions.* It would be nice to find a source either way. —M.A.,…

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Q&A: Churchill at the Stroke of a Pen: Jordan and the Indian Army

Q&A: Churchill at the Stroke of a Pen: Jordan and the Indian Army

Excerpt­ed from “Cre­at­ing Jor­dan with the Stroke of a Pen on a Sun­day After­noon,” Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, August 2021.

Q: On creating Transjordan

What is the verac­i­ty of this alleged quote by Churchill, which has many ver­sions? “In his lat­er years, he liked to boast that in 1921 he cre­at­ed Tran­sjor­dan (6/7ths of the British Pales­tine Man­date, today’s King­dom of Jor­dan, ‘with the stroke of a pen, one Sun­day after­noon in Cairo.’” The source cit­ed by The New York Times is “Bor­der­lines and Bor­der­lands: Polit­i­cal Odd­i­ties at the Edge of the Nation-State,” edit­ed by Alexan­der C.…

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Churchill: Andrew Roberts for the Defense (Daily Telegraph)

Churchill: Andrew Roberts for the Defense (Daily Telegraph)

Thanks, Andrew Roberts

The Lon­don Dai­ly Tele­graph is spon­sor­ing a series of pod­casts fea­tur­ing con­ver­sa­tions with his­to­ri­ans about attacks on nation­al heroes. On Sep­tem­ber 1st, Steve Edg­in­ton engaged with Churchill biog­ra­ph­er Andrew Roberts on the Woke Movement’s num­ber one bogey­man: Win­ston Spencer Churchill….

Woke attacks on Win­ston Churchill are libel & lies | Churchill defended
Watch this video on YouTube

“To many,” writes the Tele­graph,

Win­ston Churchill is the man who saved not only Britain but the world from Nazi tyran­ny. But to some, Churchill rep­re­sents the evils of the British Empire: racism, col­o­niza­tion and vio­lence.…

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Churchill Misquotes: The Red Herrings Now Number 175

Churchill Misquotes: The Red Herrings Now Number 175

Quotes and Misquotes

Churchill by Him­self, my ency­clo­pe­dia of Win­ston Churchill’s most quotable remarks, is to be repub­lished. (If the pub­lish­ers can ever agree about what form and sub­stance they will allow each oth­er to pro­duce.) To the the orig­i­nal 4000 quotes I’ve added so far 600 new ones.

The “Red Her­rings” appen­dix of mis­quotes has also grown apace. That, how­ev­er, is always kept up to date online. You can look it up:

All the “Quotes” Churchill Nev­er Said

Mis­quotes Part 1: Accept­ing Change to Euro­pean Union

Part 2: Fanat­ic to Liberty

Mis­quotes Part 3: Lies to Sex

Part 4: Sex­ism to Ypres

A trove of misquotes

The orig­i­nal “Red Her­rings” appen­dix (2008) con­tained about 80 mis­quotes.…

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No Cards, No Flowers: Churchill on the Death of Stalin

No Cards, No Flowers: Churchill on the Death of Stalin

Stalin redux

A cor­re­spon­dent to the Finan­cial Times slipped a red her­ring into our store of Churchill quo­ta­tions, and thanks to the news­pa­per for pub­lish­ing my correction.

In a let­ter to the FT, Mary Ellen Syn­on defend­ed Irish Taoiseach Eamon de Valera’s expres­sion of con­do­lences at the Ger­man Embassy upon the death of Adolf Hitler. Ms. Syn­on sug­gest­ed that this was just an ordi­nary diplo­mat­ic gesture—a for­mal­i­ty. After all, didn’t Churchill offer con­do­lences or a homi­ly fol­low­ing the death of Stalin?

Churchill was out­raged by de Valera’s action, but was not guilty of the same lack of pro­pri­ety (or hypocrisy).…

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