Quotes from Andrew Roberts

Continuing high unemployment, the legacy of the General Strike and the Trade Disputes Act, and a long period in power had weakened the Baldwin Government, for which Churchill had some responsibility. Yet once more he was fortunate in his defeat: he would not have wanted to be chancellor of the Exchequer during the Wall Street Crash later that year.

Study history, study history. In history lie all the secrets of statecraft. Churchill

In the Second World War his bulldog obstinacy proved invaluable; during the Gallipoli campaign it left him appallingly vulnerable.

If you want to make a true picture in your mind of a battle between great modern ironclad ships you must not think of it as if it were two men in armour striking at each other with heavy swords,' he said. 'It is more like a battle between two egg-shells striking each other with hammers.

The greatest tie of all is language . . . Words are the only things that last forever. The most tremendous monuments or prodigies of engineering crumble under the hand of time. The Pyramids moulder, the bridges rust, the canals fill up, grass covers the railway track; but words spoken two or three thousand years ago remain with us now, not as mere relics of the past, but with all their pristine vital force.

The temptation to tell a chief in a great position the things he most likes to hear is one of the commonest explanations of mistaken policy,' he had written.

Never confuse leadership with popularity.'158

No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections.

If an English writer cannot say what he has to say in English, and in simple English, depend upon it, it is probably not worth saying

What is money made for except to spend?

Between 1793 and 1797, the French would lose 125 warships to Britain's 38, including 35 capital vessels (ships-of-the-line) to Britain's 11, most of the latter the result of fire, accidents and storms rather than French attack.15 The maritime aspect of grand strategy was always one of Napoleon's weaknesses: in all his long list of victories, none was at sea.

Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Churchill, Perth

He had that ruthless side without which great affairs cannot be handled.

persons of choleric dispositions and limited intelligences are apt to become rude.

we may show mercy Ã¢â'¬â€œ we shall ask for none.

The greatest tie of all is language . . . Words are the only things that last forever. The most tremendous monuments or prodigies of engineering crumble under the hand of time. The Pyramids moulder, the bridges rust, the canals fill up, grass covers the railway track; but words spoken two or three thousand years ago remain with us now, not as mere relics of the past, but with all their pristine vital force.'204

It is no disparagement of Winston's extraordinary qualities to say that his judgement is not quite equal to his abilities

His high, uplifting oratory during the Second World War was clearly prefigured more than thirty years earlier.

In war, men are nothing, but one man is everything

This is no time for ease and comfort,' he said in reference to the extension of rationing. 'It is the time to dare and endure.

This was a time when it was equally good to live or die. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

Only one thing in history is certain: that Mankind is unteachable.

I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire,' proclaimed Churchill defending the partisanship of the British Gazette in a Commons debate on the Strike on 7 July. 'When you are in a great difficulty and in a fight of this kind, however unfortunate it may be, it is absolutely no use people pretending they do not know what side they are on.

The prize seemed worth the possible cost.