11 Winston Churchill Quotes on Criticism

Winston Churchill quotes on criticism

13. It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.

14. How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.

24. I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program which I most desired to see was the one described as 'The Boneless Wonder'. My parents judged that the spectacle would be too demoralizing and revolting for my youthful eye and I have waited fifty years, to see The Boneless Wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.

76. One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'.

80. Baldwin, Stanley ... confesses putting party before country, 169-70; ...

111. This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.

118. An old town clerk looking at European affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe

127. He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

155. Personally I am of the opinion that four assessments in three days is excessive, especially in an assessment-free week.

180. The Times is speechless and takes three columns to express its speechlessness.

193. When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticise or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.