Tag: Churchill quotations

Churchill on War (1)

Churchill on War (1)

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Part 1: What He Said, 1900-1932

Eden, Mars and Churchill after the con­clu­sion of the Munich agree­ment, in “Die Bren­nes­sel” [The Net­tle]. Berlin, Novem­ber 1938.From the time he was a young Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, already pos­sessed of expe­ri­ence in war on three con­ti­nents, Churchill spoke of the fright­ful­ness of mod­ern war and strove, accord­ing to his lights, some­times with ques­tion­able tac­tics and uncon­ven­tion­al pro­pos­als, to avoid it. His rep­u­ta­tion as a war­rior tends to obscure his efforts for peace, of which he some­times despaired, espe­cial­ly toward the end of his life. Here­with (Parts 1&2) Churchill’s own words on war and peace from Churchill by Him­self; and (Part 3) why I believe he regret­ted, in his final years, that despite all, peace still did not pre­vail in the world.…

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drift
“I didn’t say that. I wish I had.” —WSC in old age. (Actually at that occasion, research proved he did say it; his prodigious memory was fading.) For a partial ID of this photo, see text.
Churchillian (or Yogi Berra) Drift: How Quotations are Invented

Churchillian (or Yogi Berra) Drift: How Quotations are Invented

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Above: Drift into Trinidad, March 1961. Churchill, 87, at the Governor’s res­i­dence, Port of Spain, dur­ing a cruise aboard the Onas­sis yacht Christi­na. A sim­i­lar (unsigned) pho­to was sold at auc­tion in 2010. Low­er right: Dr. Eric Williams, who in August 1962 became the first prime min­is­ter of inde­pen­dent Trinidad and Toba­go. I would wel­come iden­ti­ties for the oth­ers in the pho­to.

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Churchillian Drift is just the tick­et. I have been look­ing for a term to describe the numer­ous pot­ted, inac­cu­rate Churchill quotes. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth puts its trousers on.” That is big right now on Twit­ter.…

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Quotations Winston Churchill Never Said: A Few Additions

Quotations Winston Churchill Never Said: A Few Additions

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A web­site named “IL Con­ser­v­a­tive” post­ed in June 2009 eight Churchill “quo­ta­tions,” six of which he nev­er said. These quo­ta­tions are all over the Inter­net, none of them attrib­uted to WSC. They just seem to mul­ti­ply and get passed on, like the com­mon cold. They are all exam­ples of “Churchillian Drift” (or “Yogi Berra Drift,” if you are a base­ball fan): neat lit­tle say­ings attached to some­body famous to make them sound more inter­est­ing.

The pur­pose of my “Red Her­rings” appen­dix of eighty incor­rect quo­ta­tions in Churchill by Him­self is to coun­ter­act the raft of mis­in­for­ma­tion con­veyed, large­ly through the web, but it’s like the Dutch boy stick­ing his fin­ger in the dyke.…

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