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About this quote

What does it mean?
Churchill expresses deep disdain for drunkenness, especially among scholars.
In plain terms
He thinks drunk scholars misuse a gift and should be punished.
What can you take from it?
Self-control is a virtue worth enforcing.

Where it applies

  • discussing vices
  • analyzing behavior
  • debating discipline

Putting it to work

  • promote sobriety
  • discuss habits
  • write essays

Questions to consider

  • Is drunkenness a vice?
  • Should behavior be policed?

Another view

It reflects outdated views on punishment and personal liberty.

More from Winston Churchill

  1. I accumulated in those years so fine a surplus in the Book of Observance that I have been drawing confidently upon it ever since.

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  2. India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the equator. ** Speech at Royal Albert Hall, London (18 March 1931)

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  3. I now began for the first time to envy those young cubs at the university who had fine scholars to tell them what was what; professors who had devoted their li…

    Permalink to quote #28

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