Churchill - Lifelong Wisdom Or Only A Limited Time Of Useful Inspiration

[KARL]

Churchill, indisputably a strong leader, is widely regarded as having led the UK to eventual victory in WW2 by having a clear, principled vision. Was he truly wise before that and, particularly, also afterwards - or was he simply the right man at the right time who gambled on a policy and got lucky, a one trick pony ?

[baza]

He was a great man for our time, a leader, the like of which we may never see again.

[Baldric]

^^^ Thatcher got close.

[ToraToraTora]

what brought this on? Trying to induce a lefty love in or something?

[Peter Pedant]

read a book on it

his adminstration 1952-55 wasnt a great success
and even at the time he was known to be ga-ga

so it is arguable
but probably not rationally on AB

[naomi24]

A man who led an incredibly diverse life. Certainly not a one trick pony.

https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/reference/churchills-chart-achievements

[Togo]

Terrible man, surely it would have been better had Hitler prevailed.

[dannyk13]

And a Nobel Prize winner. (Literature 1953)

[Old_Geezer]

The right person for the moment is the one who is capable to make a decision and lucky enough for it to be the right one. No one could get close to being comparable because of the circumstances at the time. No one would want that back again.

[Khandro]

Didn't he say of someone; " He has all the virtues I detest and none of the vices I admire".

Got to give him full marks for that alone. :0)

[Togo]

One for our times Khandro.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. Winston Churchill

[naomi24]

^That's wisdom!

[woofgang]

"A man who led an incredibly diverse life. Certainly not a one trick pony.”

And achieved it all while suffering with depression

[saintpeter48]

I went to see the new film on him on Sunday, must say I found it pretty boring and very disappointing, typical of the film industry to take a time in history and ruin it!
I still believe that he is the greatest ever Britain.

[woofgang]

I think you’d have to say “One of the greatest ever Britons”.....

[whiskeryron]

//Togo Terrible man, surely it would have been better had Hitler prevailed.// You have got to be kidding .

[jim360]

Pretty sure you've been had, WR :P

He made a few big mistakes in his earlier career, eg Gallipoli (not something you can overlook) and the Gold Standard when he was Chancellor, although to be fair he was badly advised on that one. All overshadowed by his wartime leadership, for which we can be forever grateful.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Amen to that.

He had clarity of vision. He understood the nature of Nazism (and the other 20th century totalitarianisms) when Nazi wasn't a meaningless leftist term of abuse ("You disagree with me therefore you're bad"), but stood for real evil: "I know best and I'm going to tell you what to do. And if you resist me I'll kill you. And if you complain I'll kill you. And if for any other reason or none I don't like you I'll still kill you". And he further understood that there was no accommodation free societies could make with totalitarian ideology: either you fight, or you submit.

Churchill chose to fight, and inspired my parents' generation of Britons to do the same: "imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood...".

[Guilbert53]

I read a few years ago that if he had died just before WW2 he would not have been considered a great man.

So WW2 "made" him.

I don't know enough about his whole life to know if that is true, but he certainly led an interesting life !

[vetuste_ennemi]

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man", Guilbert.

[douglas9401]

If nothing else he raised the profile of car insurance.