It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Winston ChurchillRead
I could not help reflecting that the bullet which had struck the chestnut [horse] had certainly passed within a foot of my head. So at any rate I had been 'under fire.' That was something.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the experience of being in danger and the acknowledgment of survival amidst peril.
Winston Churchill's quote illustrates a moment of introspection following a close encounter with danger, highlighting the adrenaline and awareness that come with being in a threatening situation. It suggests that simply surviving the experience of 'being under fire,' whether literal or metaphorical, is a point of pride and a testament to one's courage.
Themes
CourageDangerSurvivalReflectionExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about facing challenges, one might use this quote to encourage resilience.
More from Winston Churchill
All quotes →The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there's no limit to the power it can generate.
Winston ChurchillRead
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
Winston ChurchillRead
I will not pretend that if I had to choose between communism and Nazism I would choose communism.
Winston ChurchillRead
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.
Winston ChurchillRead
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
Winston ChurchillRead
Similar quotes
When I was taken to the concentration camp of Auschwitz, a manuscript of mine ready for publication was confiscated. Certainly, my deep desire to write this manuscript anew helped me to survive the rigors of the camps I was in.
Viktor E. FranklRead
A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage . . . . Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elite, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynRead
My body is very different from most of the dancers I dance with. My hair is different than most I dance with. But I didn't let that stop me. Black girls rock and can be ballerinas.
Misty CopelandRead
It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
Steven PressfieldRead
If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.
Robert Murray M'CheyneRead
I find it amazing that the only group of people who are not fighting and not killing and not pillaging and not burning and not raping, and the group of people who are mostly — though not exclusively — who are keeping life going in the midst of war, are not included in the negotiating table.
Zainab SalbiRead