“We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on typewriters will eventually produce THE ENTIRE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.” ―Robert Wilensky
Churchill Misquotes: The Red Herrings Now Number 175
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:
Churchill was criticized for his extremely respectful letter to the Japanese Ambassador to Britain in December 1941, when informing him that their countries were at war. Churchill’s response to critics was, “After all, when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.” Was Shigemitsu acually killed? —W.H., New York
A: No, he lived on
Churchill was writing in the abstract, so did not actually propose to slay the Ambassador. Mamoru Shigemitsu was Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union 1936–38 and to Britain 1938–41. Following Japan’s attacks of December 1941 he received unhampered passage home.…
Excerpted from “What Good’s a Monarchy? Churchill’s Case for an Anachronism,” for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the original text including endnotes please click here.
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On Monarchy
“It is wise in human affairs, and in the government of men, to separate pomp from power.” —Winston S. Churchill1
In an age of lampooning anything which smacks of tradition, the question arises: what good is monarchy?…
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).…
A German parliamentary journal quotes Churchill on the German resistance to Hitler: “These men and women fought without help from within or without, driven only by the restlessness of their conscience. As long as they lived they were invisible and unrecognizable to us. In their death, the resistance became visible. Their deeds and sacrifices are the foundation of the reconstruction.” (Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Germans Against Hitler, 3rd ed., Berto-Verlag, Bonn, 1960; Barry Sullivan, Thresholds of Peace, 1979). I cannot find the original document and somewhat doubt its authenticity. …
Today its old yellowed pages are an infinitesimal microcosm of what was a great company at the height of success, more valuable than the sterile if luxurious sales brochures. The last page of the last issue showed a majestic Deluxe Eight, pictured front-on, a testimonial to Packard integrity. Beneath it was a two-line statement that summarized the work of those who had created the finest automotive house organ in history: “This magazine reaches you as another evidence of our interest in your Packard ownership.’’
An article argues that WSC supported appeasement and approved of Fascism. While this is a well-written critique, it tends to magnify specifics to justify generalities. It does not establish Churchill’s attachment to Fascism and Appeasement (although he approved of some forms of the latter). It does instruct us on the kinds of fascists Churchill dealt with in the 1920s and 1930s.
Excerpted from “Churchill’s Steady Adherence to His 1946 ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech in Fulton,” written for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project. For the Hillsdale post with endnotes and more images, please click here. (Part of the text is taken from “Iron Curtain 75 Years On,” while adding relevant timelines.)
Fulton then and now
Initially condemned as a warmonger for telling the truth about Soviet intentions in his 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech, Churchill was soon acknowledged as a prophet—sometimes by the same individuals and media who excoriated him. Churchill himself never backed off.…
"Randolph, Hope and Glory": Writing his father's biography was his chance at redemption, “to create a lasting record of his love and devotion to the man he had loved more than any other person he had ever known. In the process of telling the story of his father’s life, he belatedly gave meaning to his own.”
On 27 June 1954, Churchill was quoted as saying “jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” (William H. Lawrence, “Churchill urges Patience in Coping with Red Dangers,” The New York Times, page 1; and Walter Trohan, “‘Vigilance and Time’ Asked by Churchill,” Chicago Daily Tribune, page 1. Did Churchill say this? —M.D.
No. From my Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill, page 37:
“Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.” —1954 Commonly misquoted as ‘Jaw-jaw is better than war-war,’ an expression coined four years later by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, on a visit to Australia.…
