Quotes from Andrew Roberts

Pacificism was rife at the time Ã¢â'¬â€œ 11.6 million Britons signed the League of Nations' 'Peace Ballot' in 1934–5 Ã¢â'¬â€œ and it was far easier psychologically for people to portray Churchill as a warmonger

Trust the people' had convinced him that they could hear the worst, so long as it was not put in a demoralizing way.

la ausencia de la fe cristiana había determinado que el credo churchilliano girase en torno al imperio británico.

Siempre estoy dispuesto a aprender», diría Churchill en 1952, «aunque no siempre me guste que me den lecciones».

Although it is fashionable to decry President Trump's present-day use of Twitter to communicate directly with the electorate, it is a device that would probably have been used by most leaders if they had been able.

El calor es una materia espesa que casi puede moldearse con las manos», escribe durante la canícula, «te pesa en los hombros como una mochila, y se te aferra a la cabeza como una pesadilla».

acting first and leaving the consequences to take care of themselves.

Trust the people' occasionally had to be tempered by common sense.

Among our Socialist opponents there is great confusion,' he said. 'Some of them regard private enterprise as a tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk.'49 At that point he made the gesture of a cow's udders being pulled. 'Only a handful see it for what it really is Ã¢â'¬â€œ the strong and willing horse that pulls the whole cart along.

Great men are seldom nice men.

Como Primer Cónsul, Napoleón decretó que todos los funcionarios públicos fuesen asalariados al servicio del estado, se preocupó de que estuviesen bien formados, y abolió la promoción basada en la corrupción y el nepotismo, reemplazándola con premios al talento y al mérito.

En una ocasión, Churchill tiró de un empujón a la piscina de la escuela, conocida con el nombre de Ducker, a un compañero muy bajito llamado Leopold Amery. Al darse cuenta de que Amery no tenía su edad, sino que era un estudiante del último curso, el joven Winston se disculpó diciéndole: «Mi padre, que es un gran hombre, es también de corta estatura».

The voice has been swiftly stilled. Only the echoes and the memory remain; but they will linger.

could not accept a position of general responsibility for war policy without an effective share in its guidance and control

Churchill's post-war bodyguard, Ron Golding, who was an RAF squadron leader in 1940, recalled, 'After those speeches, we wanted the Germans to come.

pluck, courage, resourcefulness

With much respect and unaltered personal friendship, I bid you goodbye.

There is a fascinating dichotomy in that, although the appeasement movement was intended to prevent another war breaking out, most of its leaders had not seen action in the Great War, whereas most of the anti-appeasers had.

gargantuan memory for facts

When Reynaud asked what would happen when the Germans attempted to invade Britain, Churchill replied, 'I haven't thought that out very carefully, but, broadly speaking, I should propose to drown as many as possible of them on the way over, and then "frapper sur la tête" [knock on the head] anyone who managed to crawl ashore.

This decision not to commit the remainder of British air forces to France, despite overweening pressure from his ally and his own Francophilia, was one of the most critical judgements he ever made.

Progress is the principle of the human race

Napoleon understood "that it is necessary never to inspire too much contempt for the enemy, because should you find an obstinate resistance, the morale of the soldier might be shaken by it."27 Instead, Napoleon openly recognized the worth of enemy units, thereby increasing his troops' morale when they overcame them.

Napoleone di Buonaparte, as he signed himself until manhood, was born in Ajaccio, one of the larger towns on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, just before noon on Tuesday, August 15, 1769.