William Gladstone Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Lady Diana Cooper on Winston and Clementine Churchill

16 February 2018 Comments 2 Comments

Excerpt*

Famed for her beauty and the “durable fire” of her marriage to Alfred Duff Cooper, First Viscount Norwich, The Lady Diana Cooper was early admitted to friendship with Winston and Clementine Churchill. A stunning beauty and an accomplished actress, she was a glittering writer. Her trilogy of memoirs is redolent of that vanished England the Coopers and Churchills loved. Her books are worth seeking out: The Light of Common Day, Trumpets from the Steep and The Rainbow Comes and Goes (1958-60).

In another age, when even Churchill’s marriage is questioned by the ignorant, Lady Diana offers words worth remembering.…

Churchill on Socialism

14 July 2015 Comments 5 Comments

This quotation is now going around the web, broadly attributed to Churchill. Is it accurate? “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” —M.S. via email.

It is more or less correct, but it’s a truncated version of two separate comments, run together to make them more interesting (in the eye of the drafter).

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” —Perth, Scotland, 28 May 1948, in Churchill, Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 & 1948 (London: Cassell, 1950), 347.…