100+ Famous Churchill Quotes That Inspire Courage and Leadership

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Kites rise highest against the wind—not with it.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

Never give in—never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

A leader is a dealer in hope.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

I have always felt that a person can become a hero by making himself master of one thing: his own soul.

It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.

Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.

Great and good are seldom the same man.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace.

Peace begins with a smile.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile—hoping it will eat him last.

Wars are not won by evacuations.

There is no such thing as good news from a foreign office.

Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

The more you know, the less you understand.

My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best.

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.

Painting is the kind of companion I need—silent, yet ever present.

We shape our education; thereafter it shapes us.

The English language is the most inscrutable of all tongues.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

Short sentences are better. Especially when coupled with a dry martini.

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. And perhaps a fine cigar.

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

I like a man who grins when he fights.

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

I didn’t think I could drink anymore. Then I thought again.

Nothing is more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.

We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

We are all inventing our lives as we go along.

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents.

Live life as if nobody is watching, and express yourself as if everyone is listening.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Every man should have the chance to marry the woman of his choice—because after that, she changes.

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

We sometimes stumble over the truth, but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

When you're going through hell, keep going.

For myself I am an optimist—it does not seem to be much use being anything else.

There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.

Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.

There is no such thing as defeat until you stop trying.

Hope is a valuable asset in difficult times.

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.

It is wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.

Action this day.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

The longer we delay, the more difficult it becomes.

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

Decisions are made by those who show up.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

Never let a crisis go to waste.

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

Democracy is the worst form of government—except for all the others.

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.

Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.

Liberty is the secret of order.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And if they dismounted, their fall would be catastrophic.

We shape our laws; thereafter they shape us.

Parliament is the lamp that shows that freedom lives.

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

We are all worms. But I believe I am a glow-worm.

Age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind.

The moodiness of youth passes, but the joy of old age remains forever.

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of champagne.

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

I have always believed that the human spirit is stronger than any weapon.

The further backward you look, the further forward you can see.

I am optimistic. It does not seem to be much use being anything else.

We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.