Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

By Tom Kirvan

On October 1, 1939, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill uttered one of his most enduring statements, proclaiming that Russia was a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

The declaration by Churchill came not long after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact, agreeing to carve up parts of Eastern Europe and to leave each other alone in the process. His statement also came on the heels of Germany’s invasion of Poland, triggering World War II.

Churchill’s words were even more prophetic when the two military powers became enemies less than two years later in June 1941 when Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union and its largest member state Russia, a conflict that cost millions of lives.

A gifted writer, Churchill wrote more than 40 books over the course of his career as one of the world’s greatest statesmen, waxing poetic on subjects big and small. One quote in particular helped define his character and was given during a 1941 speech to students at Harrow School in London where Churchill was an alum.

Winston Churchill

“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense,” Churchill told students. “Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Among his other pearls of wisdom:

•    “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
•    “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
•    “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
•    “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
•    “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”
•    “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”