Winston Churchill Quotes on War & Peace (30 Quotes)

Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.

The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. The fighters are our salvation, but the bombers alone provide the means of victory.

The War was decided in the first twenty days of fighting, and all that happened afterwards consisted in battles which, however formidable and devastating, were but desperate and vain appeals against the decision of Fate.

Wars are not won by evacuations.

War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

You and I must take care not to lose the next war.

No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.

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'.

There is no limit to the ingenuity of man if it is properly and vigorously applied under conditions of peace and justice.

In War Resolution. In Defeat Defiance. In Victory Magnanimity. In Peace Goodwill.

When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.

On the night of the 10th of May 1940, at the outset of this mighty battle, I acquired the chief power in the State, which henceforth I wielded in ever-growing measure for five years and three months of world war, at the end of which time, all our enemies having surrendered unconditionally or being about to do so, I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs.

Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict forit is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation andour altar.

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

Vast and fearsome as the human scene has become, personal contact of the right people, in the right places, at the right time, may yet have a potent and valuable part to play in the cause of peace which is in our hearts.

Civilization will not last, freedom will not survive, peace will not be kept, unless a very large majority of mankind unite together to defend them and show themselves possessed of a constabulary power before which barbaric and atavistic forces will

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.

History's villains are more easily recognized in retrospect. In an article published in 1935 and reprinted in 1937, Winston Churchill expressed a curious ambivalence towards the German chancellor prior to the outbreak of war We cannot tell whether Hitler will be the man who will once again let loose upon the world another war in which civilization will irretrievably succumb, or whether he will go down in history as the man who restored honour and peace of mind to the great Germanic nation....

We have sustained a defeat without a war.

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.

He President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in harness, and we may well say in battle harness, like his soldiers, sailors and airmen who died side by side with ours and carrying out their tasks to the end all over the world. What an enviable death was his.

In time of war, when truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.

The Bomb brought peace but man alone can keep that peace.

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.

There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is far worse or much harder to win.

The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, God save the Queen when she loses, she votes down the prime minister.

Jellicoe was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon.