What did Winston Churchill mean when he said (A joke is a very serious thing)?
It is not Winston Churchill but Charles Churchill. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8592... Book IV of The Ghost Who understands the time and place, The person, manner, and the grace, Which fools neglect; so that we find, If all the requisites are join'd, From whence a perfect joke must spring, A joke's a very serious thing.
What did Winston Churchill mean when he said..?
Churchill made this comment on 20 August 1940 in a speech during the Battle of Britain - that is, the battle in the air over southern Britain in July-October, 1940. It was a very difficult time for Britain: in June 1940 France had collapsed and installed a pro-Nazi government. In the summer (and autumn) of 1940 the outcome of World War 2 in Europe depended on whether or not the Nazis would succeed in destroying the Royal Air Force (RAF). Many people had noted that the number of actual combattants involved in this particular battle was very small, and there were remarks to the effect that the fighting in the skies was rather like some ancient battle between champions. It was quite different from land battles between huge armies. However, the outcome was of the utmost importance. This is what the famous quote is about.
What did Winston Churchill mean when he said, "I fight for my corner and I leave when the pub closes" -1945-?
Near the end of World War II, but before the election that everyone knew must follow V-E Day, The Times of London prepared an editorial suggesting that Prime Minister Churchill run as a non-partisan figure, above the fray of parliamentary politics, and that he gracefully retire soon after to rest on his laurels and bask in the glow of yesterday's triumph. The editor informed Sir Winston of both points he intended to make. Churchill had a ready reply. As for the first suggestion, "Mr. Editor," he said, "I fight for my corner of the State," and as for the second, "Mr. Editor, I leave when the pub closes."
What did Winston Churchill mean when he said...?
Britain depended on the US (via the Atlantic) for food and fuel If the Battle of the Atlantic had been lost, the Nazis could have staved Britain out and therefore the Nazis would have won the war
What did Churchill mean when he said...?
My guess is that Christian Civilization from the point of view of Winston meant all of us, the Brits, the Americans and the Australians and the New Zealanders and all the usual suspects of the English speaking world. I say this, becuase I cannot imagine that Winston meant to include the French, although he would certainly have included the Greeks. As for "perverted science" this must be a direct observation of the Nazis, but not of the German people themselves, just the Hitlerites and their hangers on. Below you'll find the best ever photograph of Winston. It was taken at a studio somewhere in Canada during WW2. I forget the photographers name now, but he snatched Winston's cigar from his mouth and stamped upon it on the floor, declaring, "I do not allow smoking in my studio". Well, Winston was just coming nicely to the boil when the photo was taken. http://www.houseofwaterdancer.com/images/world-leaders/churchill-winston/churchill-winston-07.JPG There are plenty of audio recordings of Winston, but beware, quite a few are not Winston, but an actor who's name I cannot recall, who stood in for Winston during the War to make speaches over the BBC etc thus allowing the real Winston do get on and do something else. Winston was madly in love with all things American and at the Congress told them that he would have made it on his own, if only his father had been an American instead of his dear mother.
What did Winston Churchill mean when he said; "Plans are of little importance but planning is essential"?
The term planning implies the working out of sub-components in some degree of elaborate detail. Broader-brush enunciations of objectives may qualify as metaphorical roadmaps. Planning literally just means the creation of a plan; it can be as simple as making a list. It has acquired a technical meaning, however, to cover the area of government legislation and regulations related to the use of resources. Several famous military leaders have said much the same thing. General Eisenhower and Helmuth von Moltke and Carl von Clausewitz great German generals, are three. It basically means to prepare for what is to be done, but not so specifically that things cant be changed very quickly. When you meet the enemy most plans must be changed, sometimes extensively, so prepare for what you think will happen, but understand that many things cannot be planned for with any degree of accuracy.
It matches his personality - having lived through a period of his life politically abandoned by every party for 12 years, and then becoming Prime Minister during the greatest crisis of his nation and empire and enduring military catastrophe after catastrophe - Norway, the Low Countries, the Fall of France, the Blitz, the Battle of Britain, the Mediterranean Campaign, the Siege of Malta, the battles for North Africa.In late 1941, he would give a speech to schoolboys at his old school and illustrated the above with:You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period—I am addressing myself to the School—surely from this period of ten months 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 honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.Some neck, indeed.
He didn’t. What he did say was:‘…never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.’Churchill said this on the 29th of October 1941 in a speech at the school he attended as a boy, Harrow School just outside of Central London. Churchill went on to say:‘Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.’Churchill loved to visit his old school and did so many times. On this occasion, his speech, which is so often misquoted, was about twenty minutes long. One can imagine the context of the time of the speech in October of 1941, which were desperate times—before the Americans entered the war in December of that year. Great Britain was very much on her own as Poland, France, Czechoslovakia and the low countries had all fallen in the wake of Hitler’s blitzkrieg (or ‘lightning war’). Incidentally, Churchill had a photographic memory and even late in life he loved to sing the old Harrow School songs which he knew word-for-word.
What does this quote by Winston Churchill mean?
It means you have to really believe that war is a game. If you believe it is a game, then you will have smile/grin on your face automatically. A game is played for fun, though we know in our hearts that one side will win and another side will lose at the end of the game we still give our full attention, will power & strength (or whatever we have -physically, mentally and other resources) while the game is being played with the intention of winning the game. Churchill's suggestion in this quote is that not only war should be regarded as a game, but that we have to convince ourselves that it is a game. If we cannot convince our minds that it is a game, we cannot give fully ourselves to it and lose the war early on. If we consider war is war, then the grim realities- deaths, wounded soldiers, the suffering of soldiers & their loved ones, the necessity of killing your own brothers or relatives, the ruthless decisions to be taken to win the war such as poisoning the water/ food supplies of enemies, putting your best friends in the harm's way, mass murders of civilians, innocent children etc.- of the war will haunt you day & night, your consciousness will prick you and you will be always in a dilemma of whether to fight in the war or not (to be or not to be) and will not go very far with this attitude. You will lose early on in the game of war. And your negative attitude will affect your side resulting in severe loss. Hence, if you can't play the game of war with a smile or at least a grin, you got to get out of the game. In this quote Churchill underscores the importance of conviction or belief.
I think it's an accurate manifestation of how an *imperial* British politician would have viewed the US at the time.Let's look at what might have been his experiences and understanding of the US and its foreign policy in the first half of the 20th C. In WW1 the US joined in on the side of the allies in 1917, one year before its end. In WW2 it didn't enter the war until attacked by Japan, two years after the beginning of hostilities in Europe. As a backdrop to such key events he would have been aware during the inter-war years and early into WW2 of a strong isolationist current among some elements of the US ruling elites that just didn't want to get involved in European inter-imperial rivalries.We look back from here at a strong post-WW2 US-UK alliance, but to a British Empire-centric politician like Churchill the relationship would have seemed much less harmonious, with the US at best not reliable as an ally and at worst as a potentially dangerous rival to the Empire. (See also US military plans for conflict with British Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War...)Indeed, it is arguable that the British Empire was one of the losers of WW2, with the US the main winner of that conflict.