It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Winston ChurchillRead
We used to be a source of fuel; we are increasingly becoming a sink. These supplies of foreign liquid fuel are no doubt vital to our industry, but our ever-increasing dependence upon them ought to arouse serious and timely reflection. The scientific utilisation, by liquefaction, pulverisation and other processes, or our vast and magnificent deposits of coal, constitutes a national object of prime importance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the shift from being self-sufficient in energy to relying on external sources, emphasizing the importance of utilizing domestic resources.
Winston Churchill's quote highlights the concern over growing dependence on foreign fuel supplies, warning that reliance can undermine national strength and self-sufficiency. He urges for a focus on the responsible and innovative use of domestic coal resources, which he considers crucial for a nation's progress and security.
Themes
FuelDependencyInnovationResourcesCoal
In practice
Example use cases
In a sustainability conference, to emphasize the need for energy independence.
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
The cynic says, "One man can't do anything". I say, "Only one man can do anything."
John W. GardnerRead
When one of my Japanese teacups is broken, I imagine that the real cause was not the careless hand of a maid but the anxieties of the figures inhabiting the curves of that porcelain. Their grim decision to commit suicide doesn't shock me: they used the maid as one of us might use a gun.
Fernando PessoaRead
It's very important to say that French doesn't belong to France and to French people. Now you have very wonderful poets and writers in French who are not French or Algerian - who are from Senegal, from Haiti, from Canada, a lot of parts of the world.
Leila SlimaniRead
The White man pays Reverend Martin Luther King so that Martin Luther King can keep the Negro defenseless.
Malcolm XRead
In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.
Erik EriksonRead
There are no articles any more that dream about the cities of tomorrow.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead