Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill

by Gretchen Rubin

  Winston was born . . . that. William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983), 108.

  “It is very unkind . . . term.” Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, companion vol. 1, part 1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), 88.

  “This kind of war . . . game.” Winston Churchill, My Early Life: A Roving Commission (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), 180.

  “He was hated . . . feared” Lord Beaverbrook, Politicians and the War (Garden City: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1959), 17.

  “Your first duty . . . Duke.” Consuelo Balsan, The Glitter and the Gold (Maidstone: George Mann Books, 1953), 57.

  His speeches were . . . extemporizing. William Manchester, The Last Lion: William Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932–1940 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988), 34.

  “What’s the use . . . seat?” Manchester, Visions of Glory, 394.

  As Secretary of State . . . spending. Basil Liddell Hart, “The Military Strategist,” in Churchill Revised: A Critical Assessment, by A.J.P. Taylor et al. (New York: Dial Press, 1969), 200–201.

  “Churchill on the top . . . made.” Beaverbrook, Politicians and the War, 284.

  “temperamental like a film star . . . child.” Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries: 1939–1945, eds. Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 450. Diary entry of August 30, 1943.

  Ordinary Britons were grateful . . . consumption. John Keegan, The Mask of Command (New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 274.

  At a time when . . . brim. John Pearson, The Private Lives of Winston Churchill (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 283.

  At one meeting . . . of it.” Alger Hiss, Recollections of a Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988), 124. At Yalta, to Secretary of State Edward Stettinius.

  “is virtually dictator . . . servant.” Brian Gardner, Churchill in Power: As Seen by His Contemporaries (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970), 213, quoting Admiral W. M. James, February 4, 1943.

  Even Clementine considered . . . Churchill. Mary Soames, Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979), 63.

  in fact, one club’s constitution . . . membership.” Manchester, Alone, 254.

  “Churchill stood for . . . victory.” John Charmley, Churchill: The End of Glory (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1993), 649.

  4: Churchill’s Finest Hour: May 28, 1940

  In the days before . . . independence. John Lukacs, Five Days in London: May 1940 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 117.

  His aim was . . . rot.” Earl of Birkenhead, Halifax: The Life of Lord Halifax (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966), 458, quoting Halifax diary of May 27, 1940.

  “Nations which went down . . . finished.” Raymond Callahan, Churchill: Retreat from Empire (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1984), 6.

  “quite casually . . . fight on.’ ” Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 2, Their Finest Hour (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949), 100.

  I am convinced . . . ground. Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1991), 651.

  In these dark days . . . Cause. Churchill, Their Finest Hour, 91–92.

  Even though large . . . the Old. Ibid., 118.

  “You can always . . . you” Ibid., 279.

  5: Churchill as Leader

  “would read a long . . . issue.” John Colville, The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries, 1939–1955 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985), 126.

  “Lots of people . . . plans.” Winston Churchill, War Speeches, vol. 3, Onward to Victory (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1944), 126.

  “You ask, what is . . . victory.” Roy Jenkins, Churchill (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), 591.

  “rarely failed to inject . . . emotion.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Churchill as an Ally in War,” in Churchill by His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade (London: Reprint Society, 1953), 132.

  “Winston was never good . . . them.” Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries: 1939–1945, eds. Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 214. Note accompanying December 23, 1941.

  He found time . . . Tirpitz. Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 4, The Hinge of Fate (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950), 844.

  “His abdication . . . for us.” Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, trans. Richard and Clara Winston (New York: Touchstone, 1970), 72.

  and in fact . . . salute. Frances Lonsdale Donaldson, Edward VIII (Philadelphia: Lippincott & Company, 1974), 354.

  6: Churchill’s Genius with Words

  whether in his own . . . else For a thorough examination of the controversy regarding the use of an actor, Norman Shelley, to mimic Churchill’s voice for broadcast of some speeches, see the essay by D. J. Wenden, “Churchill, Radio, and Cinema,” in Churchill: A Major New Assessment of His Life in Peace and War, eds. Robert Blake and William Roger Louis (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1993), 236, appendix.

  “The ideas set forth . . . stake.” Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 2, Their Finest Hour (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949), 262.

  Sir, . . . polite.” Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 3, The Grand Alliance (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950), 610–11.

  “ ‘Sharks’ for short,” he added. Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 4, The Hinge of Fate (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950), 956.

  “I don’t think . . . better.” Churchill, Their Finest Hour, 166.

  “There I sat . . . home.” Essay by John Colville, in Action This Day: Working with Churchill, ed. John Wheeler-Bennett (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969), 96, n. 1.

  “I cannot help feeling . . . leak out.” Peter Fleming, Operation Sea Lion: The Projected Invasion of England in 1940 (New York: Akadine Press, 1956), 97.

  “First, it is . . . absence.” Robert Rhodes James, Churchill: A Study in Failure (New York: World Publishing Company, 1970), 33. Speech in the House of Commons, August 7, 1911.

  “I said . . . ashore.” Churchill, Their Finest Hour, 155.

  “Be on your guard . . . Britain.” Kay Halle, Irrepressible Churchill (New York: World Publishing Company, 1966), 163.

  “I have often made . . . days.” Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1991), 954.

  “Over 75 and below . . . Englishman!” Halle, Irrepressible Churchill, 167.

  “In all our . . . than this.” Winston Churchill, War Speeches, vol. 5, Victory (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1946), 167.

  “It was a nation . . . roar.” Winston Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897–1963, vol. 8, ed. Robert Rhodes James (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1974), 8608.

  “His great speeches . . . inarticulately.” Essay by Sir Ian Jacob, in Action This Day: Working with Churchill, ed. John Wheeler-Bennett (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969), 182.

  “If this long island . . . ground.” Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1991), 651.

  “Halifax’s virtues . . . people.”) Lord Moran, Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966), 347. Diary entry of December 7, 1947.

  “The stronger man is right,” Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1939–1945: Nemesis (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), 209.

  “We shall never surrender.” Churchill, Their Finest Hour, 118.

  7: Churchill’s Eloquence

  These cruel, wanton . . . removed. Winston Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897–1963, vol. 6, ed. Robert Rhodes James (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1974), 6276–77.

  It fell to Neville Chamberlain . . . tomb? Winston Churchill, War Speeches, vol. 1, The Unrelenting Struggle (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1942), 4–5.

  The Nazi régime . . . aid. Ibid., 171, 173.

  No Ame
rican will think . . . powder. Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 3, The Grand Alliance (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950), 607.

  8: Churchill in Symbols

  “One of the most necessary . . . recognize.” Winston Churchill, Amid These Storms (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932), 34.

  The V sign was . . . yours!” Paul Fussell, Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 149–50.

  “Perhaps such foibles . . . genius.” Leslie Hore-Belisha, “How Churchill Influences and Persuades,” in Churchill by His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade (London: Reprint Society, 1953), 271.

  “Winston dresses night and day . . . bricks.” Diana Cooper, Trumpets from the Steep (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960), 158.

  “already acquiring a definitely . . . than ever.” H. V. Morton, Atlantic Meeting (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1943), 18.

  When he spent Christmas . . . cigars. David Stafford, Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets (New York: Overlook Press, 1999), 125.

  Churchill was so closely . . . reached him. Roy Howells, Churchill’s Last Years (New York: David McKay Company, 1965), 192.

  “His sensitiveness to effect . . . cigar.” Essay by Sir John Martin, in Action This Day: Working with Churchill, ed. John Wheeler-Bennett (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969), 149.

  Once, when asked if . . . day.) Brian Gardner, Churchill in Power: As Seen by His Contemporaries (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970), 29.

  “I neither want it . . . lifetime.” Kay Halle, Irrepressible Churchill (New York: World Publishing Company, 1966), 268.

  9: Churchill, True

  “Massive, witty, inconsiderate . . . himself.” C. P. Snow, Variety of Men (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966), 169.

  “Naught shall make us rue . . . angle. Margery Allingham, The Oaken Heart (London: Michael Joseph Ltd., 1941), 168–70.

  10: Churchill’s Desire for Fame

  “What an awful thing . . . cling to.” Clive Ponting, Churchill (London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994), 21.

  “Every body wants . . . away?” Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, companion vol. 1, part 1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), 103.

  “I shall be . . . for that,” Sir Gerald Woods Wollaston, “Churchill at Harrow,” in Churchill by His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade (London: Reprint Society, 1953), 3.

  “in the high position . . . Empire.” Martin Gilbert, In Search of Churchill (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), 214–15. In 1891.

  “having seen service . . . country.” Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, companion vol. 1, part 2 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967), 781. Winston Churchill, letter to his mother, August 29, 1897.

  “given an audience . . . different.” Richard Hough, Winston and Clementine (New York: Bantam Books, 1990), 79.

  “If I am to do . . . offended.” Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, companion vol. 1, part 2 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), 814.

  “I am thirty-two . . . though.” Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, Winston Churchill: An Intimate Portrait (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965), 3.

  “the war to which . . . life.” Frances Stevenson, Lloyd George: A Diary (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 253. Diary entry of February 13, 1934.

  An official at . . . grand. Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries: 1939–1945, eds. Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 297. Note accompanying entry of August 11, 1942.

  “I thought that . . . did not.” A. P. Herbert, Independent Member (Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1951), 94.

  “And History, while . . . name.” Winston Churchill, Savrola (New York: Random House, 1956), 31.

  11: Churchill as Depressive

  “When I was young . . . everything.” Lord Moran, Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966), 179. Diary entry of August 14, 1944.

  “I think this man . . . picture.” Martin Gilbert, In Search of Churchill (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), 210.

  “The worst part . . . suicide.” Earl of Birkenhead, Churchill, 1874–1922 (London: Harrap, 1990), 392.

  During this time . . . moved. Frances Stevenson, Lloyd George: A Diary (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 253. Diary entry of February 13, 1934.

  “at the top of the wheel . . . depression.” Lord Beaverbrook, Politicians and the War (Garden City: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1959), 128.

  Psychiatrist Anthony Storr . . . relaxation. Anthony Storr, Churchill’s Black Dog, Kafka’s Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind (London: William Collins Sons and Company, 1965), 3–51.

  “I was happy . . . a man.” Winston Churchill, My Early Life: A Roving Commission (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), 38.

  Although Moran’s book title . . . diary. Gilbert, In Search of Churchill, 233.

  Gilbert concluded that . . . depression. Ibid., 209.

  “I thought he would die of grief,” Mary Soames, Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979), 161.

  12: Churchill’s Disdain

  “You were very rude . . . great man.” Roy Howells, Churchill’s Last Years (New York: David McKay Company, 1965), 62.

  Action this Day . . . authenticity. John Colville, The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries, 1939–1955 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985), 280. Diary entry of October 31, 1940.

  “no half-way measures . . . into bed.” Walter Graebner, My Dear Mr. Churchill (Boston: Riverside Press, 1965), 45.

  “He dressed and . . . like this?’ ” Lucy Masterman, C.F.G. Masterman: A Biography (London: Nicholson and Watson, 1939), 97.

  “I shall not be far away.” John Strawson, Churchill and Hitler: In Victory and Defeat (New York: Fromm International, 1997), 257.

  “I’m quite satisfied . . . continent. James Morris, Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1978), 298. To Lord Irwin, later Lord Halifax.

  “Winston leads general conversation . . . audience.” Piers Brendon, Winston Churchill (New York: Harper & Row, 1984), 37.

  “He could become . . . person.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Churchill as an Ally in War,” in Churchill by His Contemporaries, ed. Charles Eade (London: Reprint Society, 1953), 128.

  Not even President Roosevelt . . . tedious.” Essay by Sir Ian Jacob, in Action This Day: Working with Churchill, ed. John Wheeler-Bennett (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969), 207–8.

  “[I]n his many colored . . . gramophone.” Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries: 1939–1945, eds. Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 194. Diary entry of October 26, 1941.

  As a schoolboy at Harrow . . . seen. Virginia Cowles, Winston Churchill: The Era and the Man (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953), 36.

  “As there was a war on . . . train.” Kay Halle, Irrepressible Churchill (New York: World Publishing Company, 1966), 152.

  “I got the best view . . . jacket.” Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1991), 794. Quoting diary entry of secretary Marian Holmes for September 24, 1944.

  13: Churchill’s Belligerence

  “People talked a lot . . . by wars.” John Colville, The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries, 1939–1955 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985), 273. Diary entry of October 22, 1940.

  “Look at the Swiss! . . . clock!” Kay Halle, Irrepressible Churchill (New York: World Publishing Company, 1966), 136. In 1938.

  “War is the normal occupation . . . gardening” Siegfried Sassoon, Siegfried’s Journey, 1916–1920 (New York: Viking Press, 1946), 119.

  “no stone unturned . . . uncooked” Winston Churchill, My Early Life: A Roving Commission (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), 152.

  “Nowadays,” he complained . . . diplomatist.” Richard Hough, Winston and Clementine (New York: Bantam Books, 1991), 61.


  “rode up to individuals . . . doubtful.” William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983), 278.

  “It is a shame . . . guns.” Churchill, My Early Life, 64.

  “This, this is living . . . give me.” John Pearson, The Private Lives of Winston Churchill (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 146.

  In 1922, Clementine . . . face.” Mary Soames, ed., Winston and Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchills (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), 265. Clementine Churchill, letter to Winston Churchill, November 9, 1922.

  “Much as war attracts . . . all is.” Ibid., 30. Winston Churchill, letter to Clementine Churchill, September 15, 1909, after he attended German army maneuvers at the Kaiser’s invitation.

  “This was a time . . . or die.” Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 2, Their Finest Hour (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949), 279.

  When he visited . . . days. Elizabeth Layton Nel, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary (New York: Coward-McCann, 1958), 53–54.

  “We always knew exactly . . . done.” Walter Graebner, My Dear Mr. Churchill (Boston: Riverside Press, 1965), 8–9.

  “I feel very lonely . . . that?” Lord Moran, Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966), 273. Diary entry of June 22, 1945.

  During the war, Churchill . . . never used. Essay by John Colville, in Action This Day: Working with Churchill, ed. John Wheeler-Bennett (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969), 119.

  “In great or small station . . . ‘Fight on.’ ” Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, vol. 3, The Challenge of War (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971), 694. Winston Churchill, letter to his mother from the trenches, January 29, 1916.

  “Nations as well as . . . founded.” Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, vol. 3 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927), 217.

  15: Churchill as Son

  “The greatest and most powerful . . . memory.” Winston Churchill, Amid These Storms (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932), 51–52.