Category: Quotations

Press
Meeting the press with President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Second Quebec Conference, Sepember 1944. (National Archives, public domain)
Winston Churchill and the Art of the Press Conference

Winston Churchill and the Art of the Press Conference

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Question on press conferences

I am  com­plet­ing an Eng­lish assign­ment which looks at the speech­es of Win­ston Churchill and would like to read press con­fer­ences or inter­views Churchill gave dur­ing the Sec­ond World War. So far, I have been able to find only speech­es. Please could you advise me whether any such inter­views are in exis­tence? —E.L.

Washington, 1941

Churchill rarely gave interviews—only two that I know of as a young man, and those reluc­tant­ly. Speech­es (live) were his pref­er­ence. How­ev­er, on his 1941 vis­it to Wash­ing­ton, Franklin Roo­sevelt ush­ered him into his first press con­fer­ence.…

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flaws
Lustige Blätter, Ber;om, May 1940, published as WSC became Prime Minister. The Cancel Culture would really like these old Nazi cartoons.
Fatal Flaws: Winston Churchill wasn’t Perfect. Surprise!

Fatal Flaws: Winston Churchill wasn’t Perfect. Surprise!

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The urge to proclaim one's virtue by inventing straw men is insidious, and creeps into many unexpected places. Churchill's true flaws are open to learned critique. But there's a difference between presenting "a broad range of views" and inventing myths. And when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

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Thanksgiving
“We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us; very loving and ready to pleasure us; we often go to them, and they come to us.” -Edward Winslow. “First Thanksgiving, 1621,” painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1863-1930. (Wikimedia Commons)
Winston Churchill on American Thanksgiving, 1944

Winston Churchill on American Thanksgiving, 1944

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1621:

“Our har­vest being got­ten in, our gov­er­nor sent four men on fowl­ing, that so we might after have a spe­cial man­ner rejoice togeth­er after we had gath­ered the fruit of our labors…many of the Indi­ans com­ing amongst us, and among the rest their great­est King Mas­sas­oit, with some nine­ty men, whom for three days we enter­tained and feast­ed, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plan­ta­tion and bestowed on our gov­er­nor, and upon the cap­tain, and oth­ers.”  —Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Rela­tion: A Rela­tion or Jour­nal of the Begin­ning and Pro­ceed­ings of the Eng­lish Plan­ta­tion Set­tled at Plimoth in New Eng­land, 1621.…

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Greeks
Emblem of the Greek 8th Infantry Division (motto “Ohi”), the first unit to face the Italian invasion. (Photo by Tigroinikos, Creative Commons)
“Greeks Fight Like Heroes – Heroes Fight Like Greeks”: Not by Churchill

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

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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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Icon
Built in 1902, the Old War Office was central to Britain’s military planning in all the major conflicts of the 20th century, housing numerous Secretaries of State, including Sir Winston Churchill. (Photo by Allan House, Ministry of Defence, public domain)
Churchilliana: Return to Glory for an Icon or Two (Update)

Churchilliana: Return to Glory for an Icon or Two (Update)

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Icon of war: the old War Office, Whitehall

(Updat­ed from 2016). Home to Sec­re­taries of State for War Lord Hal­dane, Lord Kitch­en­er, David Lloyd George and Win­ston Churchill, it was a key venue in two glob­al con­flicts. But in 2016 the old War Office build­ing was sold to devel­op­ers of a five-star hotel and res­i­den­tial apart­ments. That work is expect­ed to fin­ish in 2022, and res­i­dents are being sought.

Built in 1906 for £1.2, mil­lion, the Grade II-list­ed prop­er­ty changed hands for £300 mil­lion. The buy­ers were the Hin­du­ja Group, in part­ner­ship with a Obras­con Huarte Lain Desar­rol­los (OHLD), a Span­ish indus­tri­al company.…

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stroke of a pen
Churchill recalled that his “stroke of a pen” occurred in Jerusalem, which he, T.E. Lawrence and the Emir Abdullah visited together in March 1921. (Matson Collection, Library of Congress, Public Domain)
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

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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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Men of Valour
“The Germans, by a remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armoured tanks, have broken through the French defences.” —WSC, 19 May 1940 (German National Archives, public domain)
The Biblical Churchill (3) “Be Ye Men of Valour”

The Biblical Churchill (3) “Be Ye Men of Valour”

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N.B. “Be Ye Men of Val­our” is from the orig­i­nal Appen­dix IV in my book Churchill By Him­self. It was delet­ed in the lat­er edi­tion, Churchill in His Own Words, to make room for an index of phras­es. Con­clud­ed from Part 2…

From the Book of Maccabees

On 19 May 1940, Churchill made his first broad­cast as Prime Min­is­ter, a speech which lift­ed the hearts even of for­mer critics:

A tremen­dous bat­tle is rag­ing in France and Flan­ders. The Ger­mans, by a remark­able com­bi­na­tion of air bomb­ing and heav­i­ly armoured tanks, have bro­ken through the French defences north of the Mag­inot Line, and strong columns of their armoured vehi­cles are rav­aging the open coun­try, which for the first day or two was with­out defend­ers.…

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Many mansions
The Cairo Conference, November 1943: Chiang kai-Shek, Roosevelt, Churchill. (National Archives, public domain)
The Biblical Churchill (2): “A House of Many Mansions”

The Biblical Churchill (2): “A House of Many Mansions”

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N.B. “A House of Many Man­sions” is from the orig­i­nal Appen­dix IV in my book Churchill By Him­self. It was delet­ed in the lat­er edi­tion, Churchill in His Own Words, to make room for an index of phras­es. Con­tin­ued from Part 1…

“A house of many mansions”

The New Tes­ta­ment Gospel accord­ing to St. John, Chap­ter 14, con­tains an inspir­ing pas­sage that Win­ston Churchill absorbed as a boy:

1. Let not your heart be trou­bled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father’s house are many man­sions; if it were not so, I would have told you.…

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biblical
Speaking of the United Nations, in his “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946, Churchill said: “We must make sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can some day be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel.” (The Tower depicted by Alexander Mikhalchyk, Creative Commons)
The Biblical Churchill (1): His Largest Single Source of Quotations

The Biblical Churchill (1): His Largest Single Source of Quotations

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N.B.”The Bib­li­cal Churchill” was the orig­i­nal Appen­dix IV in my book Churchill By Him­self. It was delet­ed in the lat­er edi­tion, Churchill in His Own Words, to make room for an index of phrases.

Churchill’s Biblical storehouse

“In my Father’s house are many man­sions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to pre­pare a place for you.” —St. John 14:2 [1]

We have often said of our own British Empire: “In my Father’s house there are many man­sions.” So in this far greater world struc­ture, which we shall sure­ly raise out of the ruins of des­o­lat­ing war, there will be room for all gen­er­ous, free asso­ci­a­tions of a spe­cial char­ac­ter, so long as they are not dis­loy­al to the world cause nor seek to bar the for­ward march of mankind.…

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Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

Churchill in His Own Words

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The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill

The Patriot’s Churchill

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