"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

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More quotes from: Winston Churchill

• "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. "
• "A joke is a very serious thing. "
• "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get ..."
• "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every ..."
• "A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, ..."
• "A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and ..."
• "All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: ..."
• "Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand ..."
• "Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed. "
• "Although present on the occasion, I have no clear recollection of the events leading up ..."
• "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. "
• "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. "
• "Baldwin thought Europe was a bore, and Chamberlain thought it was only a greater Birmingham. "
• "Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes ..."
• "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat. "
• "Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all. "
• "By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. "
• "Clement Attlee is a modest man who has a good deal to be modest about. "
• "Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which ..."
• "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it ..."
• "Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the ..."
• "Death came very easily to her. She had lived such an innocent and loving life ..."
• "Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers ..."
• "Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. "
• "Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what ..."
• "Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash. "
• "Eating words has never given me indigestion. "
• "Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. "
• "Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others. "
• "For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power ..."
• "For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties ..."
• "From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I ..."
• "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended ..."
• "He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. "
• "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. "
• "He is a modest little man who has a good deal to be modest about. "
• "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. "
• "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. "
• "I also hope that I sometimes suggested to the lion the right place to use ..."
• "I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after ..."
• "I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel ..."
• "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. "
• "I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else. "
• "I am bored with it all. "
• "I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if ..."
• "I am easily satisfied with the very best. "
• "I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. ..."
• "I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When ..."
• "I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ..."
• "I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, ..."
• "I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence-which is a ..."
• "I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who ..."
• "I have never developed indigestion from eating my words. "
• "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. "
• "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me. "
• "I like a man who grins when he fights. "
• "I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you ..."
• "I never worry about action, but only inaction. "
• "I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed ..."
• "I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks. "
• "If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil ..."
• "If I was your wife Sir, I'd poison you! Madam, if you were my wife, ..."
• "If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would ..."
• "If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, ..."
• "If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have ..."
• "If you are going through hell, keep going. "
• "If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do ..."

• "If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. ..."
• "If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law. "
• "If you're going through hell, keep going. "
• "In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and ..."
• "In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take ..."
• "In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, ..."
• "In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times. "
• "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard ..."
• "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the ..."
• "It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to ..."
• "It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. "
• "It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain ..."
• "It is a remarkable comment on our affairs that the former prime minister of a ..."
• "It is all right to rat, but you can't re-rat. "
• "It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can ..."
• "It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive. "
• "It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed ..."
• "It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the ..."
• "It's no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in ..."
• "Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it. "
• "Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning. "
• "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick ..."
• "Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of ..."
• "Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne; knowing him was like ..."
• "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry ..."
• "Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: ..."
• "Most people stumble over the truth, now and then, but they usually manage to pick ..."
• "Mr. Gladstone read Homer for fun, which I thought served him right. "
• "My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto. "
• "My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to ..."
• "My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the ..."
• "My wife and I tried two or three times in the last 40 years to ..."
• "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, ..."
• "Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room. "
• "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to ..."
• "Never, never, never give up. "
• ""No comment" is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again. "
• "No crime is so great as daring to excel. "
• "No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. "
• "No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but ..."
• "No lover ever studied every whim of his mistress as I did those of President ..."
• "No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of ..."
• "Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him ..."
• "Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result. "
• "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. ..."
• "One does not leave a convivial party before closing time. "
• "One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run ..."
• "Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge. "
• "Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong. "
• "Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. "
• "Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you ..."
• "Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at ..."
• "Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can ..."
• "Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business. "
• "Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next ..."
• "Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would ..."
• "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. "
• "Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all. "
• "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, ..."
• "Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong. "
• "Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on ..."
• "Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others ..."
• "Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft. "
• "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. "
• "Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam. "
• "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that ..."

• "Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. "
• "Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. You have ..."
• "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. "
• "The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like ..."
• "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. "
• "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. "
• "The first quality that is needed is audacity. "
• "The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near ..."
• "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of ..."
• "The latest refinements of science are linked with the cruelties of the Stone Age. "
• "The length of this document defends it well against the risk of its being read. "
• "The maxim of the British people is "Business as usual." "
• "The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without ..."
• "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. "
• "The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it. "
• "The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself. "
• "The price of greatness is responsibility. "
• "The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no ..."
• "The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of ..."
• "The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all. "
• "The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the ..."
• "There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of ..."
• "There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a ..."
• "There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies. "
• "There is no such thing as a good tax. "
• "There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion. "
• "There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result. "
• "There was unanimous, automatic, unquestioned agreement around our table. "
• "These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country ..."
• "They are decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid ..."
• "They told me that Gladstone read Homer for fun, which I thought served him right. "
• "This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure. "
• "This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read. "
• "Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those ..."
• "To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy ..."
• "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. "
• "To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war. "
• "Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what ..."
• "True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information. "
• "Truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it; but, in the ..."
• "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard ..."
• "War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. ..."
• "War is mainly a catalogue of blunders. "
• "We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm. "
• "We are stripped bare by the curse of plenty. "
• "We have a lot of anxieties, and one cancels out another very often. "
• "We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. "
• "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what ..."
• "We must beware of needless innovations, especially when guided by logic. "
• "We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry ..."
• "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the ..."
• "We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival. "
• "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. "
• "We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us. "
• "When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack ..."
• "When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old ..."
• "When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber. "
• "When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin. "
• "When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be ..."
• "When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite. "
• "When you took your seat I felt as if a woman had come into my ..."
• "Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed. "
• "Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is ..."
• "Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an ..."
• "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried ..."
• "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. "