Seeing as how the economy is in the dumps, as is Europe, and most of the rest of the world to some or another degree, thought I'd share some Churchilian quotes ...
Will the shutting out of foreign goods increase the total amount of wealth in this country? Can foreign nations grow rich at our expense by selling us goods under cost price? Can a people tax themselves into prosperity? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?
Hmm - as relevant now as it was in 1904.
And from 1898...
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent, or arrogant Commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations — all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. Always remember, however sure you are that you could easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance.
He did have a point ....
and lastly - for today, from me, anyway:
Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
"Armistice - or Peace?", published in The Evening Standard (11 November 1937)
Will the shutting out of foreign goods increase the total amount of wealth in this country? Can foreign nations grow rich at our expense by selling us goods under cost price? Can a people tax themselves into prosperity? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?
Hmm - as relevant now as it was in 1904.
And from 1898...
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent, or arrogant Commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations — all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. Always remember, however sure you are that you could easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance.
He did have a point ....
and lastly - for today, from me, anyway:
Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
"Armistice - or Peace?", published in The Evening Standard (11 November 1937)
