Quotations for Daily Use

Wit

"An MP on the opposite side of the House lurched into it, 'Must you fall asleep when I am speaking?'
Winston answered, 'No, it is purely voluntary.' "
The Last Lion - Alone 1932 - 1940 by William Manchester

"An MP on the opposite side of the House inquired whether he was asleep. Winston immediately answered, 'I wish to God I were.' " The Last Lion - Alone 1932 - 1940" by William Manchester quoting Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second . . . if there is one." Winston Churchill - Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician, army officer, and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, when he led Britain to victory in the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955.

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway) - William Faulkner (1897–1962), US novelist. His works deal with the history and legends of the US South and have a strong sense of a society in decline.

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." Billy Wilder born Samuel Wilder, (June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist whose career spanned more than five decades. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of the Hollywood Golden Age of cinema.

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radicaland Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." Paul Keating - Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian politician who served as the 24th Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Labor Party from 1991 to 1996.

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one." George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill - George Bernard Shaw ( 26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." Stephen Bishop - Earl Stephen Bishop (born November 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and guitarist. His biggest hits include "On and On", "It Might Be You" and "Save It for a Rainy Day". 

"I've had a a perfectly wonderful evening. But I'm afraid this wasn't it." Groucho Marx - Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, writer, stage, film, radio, and television star.A master of quick wit, he is widely considered one of America's greatest comedians.

"Some cause happiness whereever they go; others, whenever they go." Oscar Wilde - Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright.

"Talking about the prime minister at the time, Ramsay MacDonald, Winston called him the 'boneless wonder,' and 'the man who possessed the gift of compressing the largest number of words into the smaller amount of thought.' " The Last Lion - Alone 1932 - 1940 by William Manchester

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." Moses Hadas (June 25, 1900, Atlanta, Georgia – August 17, 1966) was an American teacher, a classical scholar, and a translator of numerous works.

"When asked by a young MP who spoke on unilateral disarmament which Winston did NOT agree with what Winston thought of his speech Winston answered, 'Why, I thought it was very good. It must have been good, for it contained, so far as I know, all the platitudes known to the human race, with the possible exceptions of "Prepare to meet thy God" and "Please adjust your dress before leaving." The Last Lion - Alone 1932 - 1940 by William Manchester

"When Winston was asked what should be done if Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin died in office, he replied, 'Embalm, bury, and cremate. Take no chances!' " The Last Lion - Alone 1932 - 1940 by William Manchester

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" Mark Twain - Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1]known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer.

"Winston had been trying, without much success, to grow a guardsman's mustache, and his touchiness about it inspired what may have been the first faint flash of Churchillian wit in London society. A friend of his mother's seated next to him at one of the dinners, told him she liked neither his politics nor his mustache. He replied, 'Madame, I see no earthly reason why you should come in contact with either.' " Winston Churchill, The Last Lion - Visions of Glory 1874 - 1932 by William Manchester

"You never know whether one of the party bigwigs might be in the crowd." Admiral Canaris on a trip to Spain while riding through the countryside in his open car stood and gave the Hitler salute to every herd of sheep he passed. Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and chief of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. During the Second World War, he was among the military officers involved in the clandestine opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was executed in Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason.

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