Category: Quotations

Paintatious
Paul Rafferty’s elegant book is reviewed at https://bit.ly/2ZTwktD
Paintatious – Paintaceous – Paintacious: What Was Churchill’s Word?

Paintatious – Paintaceous – Paintacious: What Was Churchill’s Word?

Paul Rafferty’s mag­nif­i­cent Win­ston Churchill: Paint­ing on the French Riv­iera is being trans­lat­ed for a French edi­tion by Dr. Antoine Capet. The author and trans­la­tor posed an inter­est­ing ques­tion. How did Win­ston Churchill spell “painta­tious”?

(Any read­er bored by pedan­tic, picayune, obscure mean­der­ings about noth­ing of impor­tance should stop read­ing now. For my review of Paul’s book see: “Book of the Year.”)

“Painta­tious” was artist Churchill’s word for a scene wor­thy of his brush. He found many such venues on the French Riv­iera, which Paul explores so well. But this is a tricky ques­tion because “painta­tioius” not a real word.…

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Social Dilemma
A modern railway station anywhere, any time. (Rawpixel.com, Wikimedia Creative Commons)
“The Social Dilemma” and Churchill’s “Mass Effects in Modern Life”

“The Social Dilemma” and Churchill’s “Mass Effects in Modern Life”

“The Social Dilem­ma” is excerpt­ed from an Essay on Win­ston Churchill’s 146th birth­day, 30 Novem­ber 2020, pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the orig­i­nal post, please click here.

“The Social Dilemma”: Netflix, 2020, 90 minutes.

“Is not mankind already escap­ing from the con­trol of indi­vid­u­als? Are not our affairs increas­ing­ly being set­tled by mass process­es? Are not mod­ern conditions—at any rate through­out the Eng­lish-speak­ing communities—hostile to the devel­op­ment of out­stand­ing per­son­al­i­ties and to their influ­ence upon events: and last­ly if this be true, will it be for our greater good and glo­ry?…

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cartoon
Left: “Modesty, my dear Winston, is the secret of all success in the House of Commons, look at ME!! Cultivate it, my boy, I beseech you!” Right: “Nothing like a quiet, unobtrusive manner, my dear Churchill, to make you popular in the House! Keep your eye on ME!” (“Punch,” 5 December 1900)
In Search of Winston Churchill’s First Political Cartoon

In Search of Winston Churchill’s First Political Cartoon

First Cartoon? The Current Contender

We are asked: what was the first Win­ston Churchill polit­i­cal car­toon? The ear­li­est dis­cov­ered so far is this one, from the “Essence of Par­lia­ment” col­umn in Punch on 5 Decem­ber 1900. It appeared about two months after young Win­ston was elect­ed Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Old­ham, Lan­cashire, on 1 Octo­ber. Alas the car­toon (artist unknown) pos­es more ques­tions than it answers. Churchill is being urged to exhib­it mod­esty, a qual­i­ty he was not known for. But who is doing the urg­ing? We asked sev­er­al authorities.

I first thought the man at right might be Joseph Cham­ber­lain, known for his mon­o­cle.…

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war books
“I asked him what he had thought when the 21st Lancers had gone headlong into a gully filled with quite unexpected and extremely bad-tempered Dervishes. He said, ‘It was very stimulating, but I did think: Suppose there is a spoil-sport in the hole with a machine gun?'” —Anthony Montague Browne. The Battle of Omdurman, 2 September 1898. Oil on canvas by William Barnes Wollen, 1857-1936. (Walker Art Gallery, Wikimedia Commons)
Winston S. Churchill’s Three Best War Books (Excerpt)

Winston S. Churchill’s Three Best War Books (Excerpt)

“Three Out­stand­ing War Books” is Excerpt­ed from an essay for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. Why set­tle for the excerpt when you can read the whole thing full-strength? Click here.

Bet­ter yet, join 60,000 read­ers of Hills­dale essays by the world’s best Churchill his­to­ri­ans by sub­scrib­ing. You will receive reg­u­lar notices (“Week­ly Win­stons”) of new arti­cles as pub­lished. Sim­ply vis­it https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/, scroll to bot­tom, and fill in your email in the box enti­tled “Stay in touch with us.” (Your email remains strict­ly pri­vate and is nev­er sold to pur­vey­ors, sales­per­sons, auc­tion hous­es, or Things that go Bump in the Night.)…

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Civil
In 1959, President Eisenhower took Churchill on a tour of Gettysburg. Charlotte Thibault’s imaginative painting captures what they saw in their mind’s eyes. (Courtesy of the artist).
Churchill’s Fantasy: “If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg”

Churchill’s Fantasy: “If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg”

Excerpt­ed from the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. Why set­tle for the excerpt when you can read the whole thing ? Click here. 

Please join 60,000 read­ers of Hills­dale essays by the world’s best Churchill his­to­ri­ans by sub­scrib­ing: vis­it https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/, scroll to bot­tom, and fill in your email in the box, “Stay in touch with us.” (Your email remains strict­ly pri­vate and is nev­er sold or dis­trib­uted to anyone.)

“Sir Winston’s Gettysburg essay…

...is a fan­ta­sy which tran­scends all my objec­tions to explor­ing the what-ifs and might-have-beens in that great war.”…

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Aryan
Winston Churchill, 1904, shorty after his interview with Gustavus Ohlinger. (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
Churchll’s “Aryan Stock” Quotation: Principles, Facts and Heresies

Churchll’s “Aryan Stock” Quotation: Principles, Facts and Heresies

An essay on Churchill’s 146th birthday.  “The Aryan stock is bound to triumph”

Suf­fer­ers from “Churchill Derange­ment Syn­drome” hold “Aryan stock” high among Win­ston Churchill’s appalling utter­ances. The remark rose again in cor­re­spon­dence with a jour­nal­ist. I dug out for him the back­ground of that remark, but his report omit­ted it. Out of con­text the quote is mis­lead­ing, so I guess that’s just as well. But rather than write off sev­er­al hours’ research, the facts might here serve to advance reality.

Wales in its Welsh Wis­dom is think­ing of mov­ing stat­ues of Churchill, Nel­son and Gand­hi to a muse­um, the Dai­ly Tele­graph informs us.…

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Joan
His words about Joan comprise he rarest spin-off from Churchill’s “History of the English-Speaking Peoples.” (Photo courtesy Marc Kuritz, and the Churchill Book Collector)
Churchill on Joan of Arc: Joan as an Agent of Brexit? Maybe not…

Churchill on Joan of Arc: Joan as an Agent of Brexit? Maybe not…

Excerpt­ed from “Angel of Deliv­er­ance: Churchill’s Trib­utes to Joan of Arc,” pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the com­plete arti­cle with end­notes and added illus­tra­tions, click here.

“Her gleaming, mystic figure…”

Churchill waxed elo­quent on Joan of Arc in 1938. His words would like­ly not pass with today’s min­ders of Polit­i­cal Correctness:

We see her gleam­ing, mys­tic fig­ure in the midst of the pikes and arrows, and it need­ed not her mar­tyr­dom to win her can­on­iza­tion as a saint not only from the Pope but from the mod­ern world.…

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Welsh
St David’s Day Celebration, Cardiff Bay, 1 March 2009. (National Assembly for Wales, Creative Commons)
Winston Churchill on the “Unconquerable Welsh” and Lloyd George

Winston Churchill on the “Unconquerable Welsh” and Lloyd George

"[Lloyd George] was the greatest Welshman which that unconquerable race has produced since the age of the Tudors. Much of his work abides, some of it will grow greatly in the future, and those who come after us will find the pillars of his life's toil upstanding, massive and indestructible; and we ourselves, gathered here today, may indeed be thankful that he voyaged with us through storm and tumult with so much help and guidance to bestow." —WSC

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Democracy
As Churchill addressed Liverpool Dockworkers, 25 April 1941, British forces were withdrawing from Greece. 3 1/2 years later they were back, and Churchill was under fire for interfering with democracy. (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
“Antithesis of Democracy” (Or: Winston Churchill & Portland)

“Antithesis of Democracy” (Or: Winston Churchill & Portland)

Churchill’s stunning relevancy

It is remark­able how we still encounter in Churchill words of astound­ing cur­ren­cy. A friend in Port­land, Ore­gon asked for ver­i­fi­ca­tion of a Churchill quo­ta­tion: “A love for tra­di­tion has nev­er weak­ened a nation, indeed it has strength­ened nations in their hour of per­il….”  (“The Tasks which Lie Before Us,” House of Com­mons, 29 Novem­ber 1944.)  A good, sol­id max­im, but not out of the ordinary.

AND THEN my eye fell across what Churchill said a week later.  Its cur­rent appli­ca­tion, to Port­land among oth­er places, is remarkable. December 1944 Only two months after Greece had been lib­er­at­ed from Ger­man occu­pa­tion, left­ist ele­ments of the gov­ern­ment resigned and began an armed rebel­lion.…

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Hull
Any lies galloping here? U.S.. Secretary of State Cordell Hull (right) confers with British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden during the Second World War. (U.S. State Department, public domain)
Galloping Lies, Bodyguards of Lies, and Lies for the Sake of Your Country

Galloping Lies, Bodyguards of Lies, and Lies for the Sake of Your Country

About lies. Can you please advise whether or not Sir Win­ston Churchill said: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”  Many thanks. —A.S., Bermuda

That one lies with Cordell Hull

It was Franklin Roo­sevelt‘s Sec­re­tary of State, Cordell Hull, not Churchill. I have a slight vari­a­tion of it in the “Red Her­rings” appen­dix of  Churchill by Him­self, page 576: “A lie will gal­lop halfway round the world before the truth has time to pull its breech­es on.”  Although com­mon­ly ascribed to Churchill (who would have said “trousers,” not “breech­es”), this is def­i­nite­ly down to Hull.…

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Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

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