50 Winston Churchill Quotes on Politics

Winston Churchill quotes on politics

15. What is the true and original root of Dutch aversion to British rule? It is the abiding fear and hatred of the movement that seeks to place the native on a level with the white man : the Kaffir is to be declared the brother of the European, to be constituted his legal equal, to be armed with political rights.

23. The choice was clearly open: crush them with vain and unstinted force, or try to give them what they want. These were the only alternatives and most people were unprepared for either. Here indeed was the Irish spectre - horrid and inexorcisable.

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.

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

35. Mr. Gandhi has gone very high in my esteem since he stood up for the untouchables: I do not care whether you are more or less loyal to Great Britain: Tell Mr. Gandhi to use the powers that are offered and make the thing a success.

37. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.

41. I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.

54. If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.

57. When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, 'In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken... ' Some chicken; some neck.'- Refering to France in a speech to the Canadian Parliament 1941

64. I have nothing to add to the reply which has already been sent.

65. You might however consider whether you should not unfold as a background the great privilege of habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are the supreme protection invented by the English people for ordinary individuals against the state. The power of the Executive to cast a man in prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist.

72. The very first thing the President did was to show me the new Presidential Seal, which he had just redesigned. He explained, 'The seal has to go everywhere the President goes. It must be displayed upon the lectern when he speaks. The eagle used to face the arrows but I have re-designed it so that it now faces the olive branches: what do you think?' I said, 'Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.'

73. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.

74. Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw.

75. Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

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; ...

82. There are two main characteristics of the House of Commons which will command the approval and the support of reflective and experienced Members. The first is that its shape should be oblong and not semicircular. Here is a very potent factor in our political life. The semicircular assembly, which appeals to political theorists, enables every individual or every group to move round the centre, adopting various shades of pink according as the weather changes. I am a convinced supporter of the party system in preference to the group system. I have seen many earnest and ardent Parliaments destroyed by the group system. The party system is much favoured by the oblong form of chamber. It is easy for an individual to move through those insensible gradations from left to right, but the act of crossing the Floor is one which requires serious attention. I am well informed on this matter for I have accomplished that difficult process, not only once, but twice.

88. I think it is the most important subject facing this country, but I cannot get any of my ministers to take any notice.

89. I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.

104. Civilisation had been restored to the Island. But now the political fabric which nurtured it was about to be overthrown. Hitherto strong men armed had kept the house. Now a child, a weakling, a vacillator, a faithless, feckless creature, succeeded to the warriour throne.

105. We have seen that Alfred in his day had never hesitated to use money as well as arms. Ethelred used money instead of arms. He used it in ever-increasing quantities, with ever-diminishing returns...There is the record of a final payment to the Vikings in 1012. This time forty-eight thousand pounds' weight of silver was extracted, and the oppressors enforce the collection by the sack of Canterbury, holding Archbishop Alphege to ransom, and finally killing him at Greenwich because he refused to coerce his flock to raise the money. The Chronicle states: 'All these calamities fell upon us through evil counsel, because tribute was not offered to them at the right time, nor yet were they resisted; but, when they had done the most evil, then was peace made with them. And notwithstanding all this peace and tribute they went everywhere in companies, harried our wretched people, and slew them'

113. I think I can save the British Empire from anything - except the British.

117. A nation trying to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to pull himself up by the handles.

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

119. A sheep in sheep's clothing.

122. Dictators ride to and fro on tigers they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

130. His ear is so close to the ground, it has locusts in it.

136. If you wanted nothing done at all, Balfour was the man for the job.

137. I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.

138. I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.

142. I must warn him that he runs a very grave risk of falling into senility before he is overtaken by age.

157. 'Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.'

161. The biggest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.

162. Variant: The best argument against democracy is a five-minute talk with the average voter.

163. The essence and foundation of House of Commons debating, is formal conversation, the set speech, the harangues addressed to constituents, or to the wider public out of doors, have never succeeded much in our small wisely built chamber.

166. The honourable gentleman should not really generate more indignation than he can conveniently contain.

167. The House of Commons has lifted our affairs above the mechanical sphere into the human sphere.

169. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.

171. The object of Parliament is to substitute argument for fisticuffs. (attributed to a House of Commons speech of 1951)

173. The reason for having diplomatic relations is not to confer a compliment, but to secure a convenience.

179. There should be on great occasions a sense of crowd and urgency. There should be a sense of the importance of much that is said, and a sense that great matters are being decided, there and then by the House... It has a collective personality which enjoys the regard of the public, and which imposes itself upon the conduct not only of individual Members but of parties.

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

181. The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.

187. Unless some effective world supergovernment for the purpose of preventing war can be set up ... the prospects for peace and human progress are dark ....If .... it is found possible to build a world organization of irresistible force and inviolable authority for the purpose of securing peace, there are no limits to the blessings which all men enjoy and share.

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.

208. Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are drunk. Churchill: And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.

212. If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.

213. An empty taxi arrived and out of it stepped Attlee.

219. I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself.