Their Finest Hour Quotes

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

“Doubts [can] be swept away only by deeds.”
― Winston Churchill, Their Finest Hour

“Success always demands a greater effort.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

“When you have got a thing where you want, it is a good thing to leave it where it is.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: ‘This was their finest hour.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Strange as it may seem, the Air Force, except in the air, is the least mobile of all the services. A squadron can reach its destination in a few hours, but its establishments, depots, fuel, spare parts, and workshops take many weeks, and even months, to develop.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

“Attempts were made in 1941 to design a similar proximity fuze, using a tiny Radar set arranged to explode the warhead when the projectile passed near the aircraft. Successful preliminary experiments were made, but before this fuze was developed in England the Americans, to whom we imparted our knowledge, actually succeeded not only in perfecting the instrument but in reducing its size so much that the whole thing could be put into the head not merely of a rocket but of a shell. These so-called “Proximity Fuzes”, made in the United States, were used in great numbers in the last year of the war,”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Germany could not gain complete air superiority unless she could knock out our Air Force, and the aircraft industries, some vital portions of which are concentrated at Coventry and Birmingham.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“The admiration of the whole country was given to London, and all the other great cities in the land braced themselves to take their bit as and when it came and not to be outdone. Indeed, many persons seemed envious of London’s distinction, and quite a number came up from the country in order to spend a night or two in town, share the risk, and “see the fun”. We had to check this tendency for administrative reasons. ***”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

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― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“When the alarm sounded Ribbentrop led the way down many flights of stairs to a deep shelter sumptuously furnished. When he got inside the raid had begun. He shut the door and said to Molotov: ‘Now here we are alone together. Why should we not divide?’ Molotov said: ‘What will England say?’ ‘England,’ said Ribbentrop, ‘is finished. She is no more use as a Power.’ ‘If that is so,’ said Molotov, ‘why are we in this shelter, and whose are these bombs which fall?”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Safety first” is the road to ruin in war, even if you had the safety, which you have not.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Remember we shall never stop, never weary, and never give in, and that our whole people and Empire have vowed themselves to the task of cleansing Europe from the Nazi pestilence and saving the world from the new Dark Ages.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“When good people get into trouble because they are attacked and heavily smitten by the vile and wicked, they must be very careful not to get at loggerheads with one another. The common enemy is always trying to bring this about, and, of course, in bad luck a lot of things happen which play into the enemy’s hands. We must just make the best of things as they come along.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Wherever possible in England, horse transport should be used to supplement M.T. We improvidently sold a great many of our horses to the Germans, but there are still a good many in Ireland.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“7. Our task, as the Minister of Supply rightly reminds us, is indeed formidable when the gigantic scale of German military and aviation equipment is considered. This war is not however a war of masses of men hurling masses of shells at each other. It is by devising new weapons, and above all by scientific leadership, that we shall best cope with the enemy’s superior strength.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“I must say I am a little impatient about the American scepticism. The event is what will decide all.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“I had told Parliament on June 4: “The great French Army was very largely, for the time being, cast back and disturbed by the onrush of a few thousand armoured vehicles. May it not also be that the cause of civilisation itself will be defended by the skill and devotion of a few thousand airmen?”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“The Home Guard overtopped the million mark, and when rifles were lacking grasped lustily the shotgun, the sporting rifle, the private pistol, or, when there was no firearm, the pike and the club. No Fifth Column existed in Britain, though a few spies were carefully rounded up and examined. What few Communists there were lay low. Everyone else gave all they had to give.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“I understand all your difficulties with American public opinion and Congress, but events are moving downward at a pace where they will pass beyond the control of American public opinion when at last it is ripened. Have you considered what offers Hitler may choose to make to France? He may say: “Surrender the Fleet intact and I will leave you Alsace-Lorraine,” or alternatively: “If you do not give me your ships I will destroy your towns.” I am personally convinced that America will in the end go to all lengths, but this moment is supremely critical for France. A declaration that the United States will if necessary enter the war might save France. Failing that, in a few days French resistance may have crumpled and we shall be left alone.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“As rumours grew of peace proposals and a message was sent to us from the Vatican through Berne I thought it right to send the following minute to the Foreign Secretary: 28.VI.40 I hope it will be made clear to the Nuncio that we do not desire to make any inquiries as to terms of peace with Hitler, and that all our agents are strictly forbidden to entertain any such suggestions.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Lack of suitable petrol made it impossible for the twelve Spitfires to escort us.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“Fifty of the Infantry tanks were at home in a battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment, and the remainder were in training-schools. Never has a great nation been so naked before her foes.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“You ask, What is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour, 1949

“A Constitution”, said Napoleon, “should be short and obscure.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“In War: Resolution
In Defeat: Defiance
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour

“History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. What is the worth of all this? The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“There is an age-long argument about ships versus forts. Nelson said that a six-gun battery could fight a 100-gun ship-of-the-line. Mr. Balfour, in the Dardanelles inquiry, said in 1916: “If the ship has guns which can hit the fort at ranges where the fort cannot reply, the duel is not necessarily so unequal.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“For every reason therefore we must develop the storm troop or Commando idea. I have asked for five thousand parachutists, and we must also have at least ten thousand of these small “bands of brothers” who will be capable of lightning action.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2

“if the issue were presented to the British as a naked trading away of British possessions for sake of the fifty destroyers it would certainly encounter vehement opposition.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour: The Second World War, Volume 2