Did Churchill say: “If you go through hell, continue to go”?

The former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is often attributed to the aphorism that it is impossible to give up even in the most difficult situations. We checked whether Churchill really said that.

Many onlineCitterals attribute these words to Churchill. These words, allegedly spoken by the British politician, can be found in Media And social networks, both in Russian and in English. This phrase was also quoted, indicating the authorship of Churchill, former Secretary of State James Baker, actress Sharon Stone And an American entrepreneur Ilon Musk. In addition, Churchill National Museum in the United States Turned on This is a statement in the list of memorable quotes of a British politician.

IN Booklet, compiled by the Churchill National Museum with the United States, it is written that the collection of works and speeches by Churchill is one of the most often cited sources, inferior in citation only to the Bible and William Shakespeare. In the same booklet there is a list of his best statements indicating the sources: speeches, written works or transcript of debate. The list also contains a quote about blood pressure: "If you are running through Hell, Keep Going." However, specifically under this phrase, the exact source is not indicated. Other quotes also do not specify where and when Churchill could pronounce or write these words.

On the network you can find two popular options for the end of the quote: “Keep Going” (continue to go) and “Don’t Stop” (do not stop). We were not able to find any of these formulations in the most complete Collections All known documents and speeches by Churchill, which was collected by the Churchill Archives Center at the University of Cambridge. Research International Society Churchill, too claimsthat a quote about hell is not mentioned either in his writings or in the works written about him. The researcher of the works of Churchill Richard Langworththat compiled Collection The quotes of the British statesman “Churchill in itself: in his own words”, placed a quote about the ADA in the section “Distracting maneuvers: false quotes”.

As the portal found out Quote investigator, the earliest mention of this quote can be found in the journal about the religion “Christian Science Sentinel” of October 30, 1943. John Randall Dunn, author of one of the articles, Described The dialogue that happened between the two men whose names remained unknown: “Someone once asked a person how he feels. He replied: “I'm going through hell!” His friend said: “Continue to go. There is nothing to stop there!” ” 

Then why did this phrase begin to attribute to Churchill? Perhaps erroneous attribution has gained popularity after the publication of the religious book of Dick Bernal "When Lucifer and Jezevel come to your church»In 1994. This work begins with three quotes:

“Life is just a test. This is just a test. ” Kevin Gerald
"When you go through hell, do not stop." Mario Murillo
"Never, never, never stop." Sir Winston Churchill

In the book of Dick Bernal, a quote about hell was attributed to the American preacher Mario Murillo. It is possible that the neighborhood of his aphorism with a quote by Churchill led to confusion and the subsequent spread of false attribution.

As a statement by Churchill, the phrase “If you go through hell, continue to go” for the first time mentioned in the Illinois newspaper Held & Review in 1995. Author Notes Archer Daniels Midland writes about the meeting of shareholders of the corporation: “Andreas completed the meeting, recognizing that recently he and the company have experienced difficult times. He said that Malruni (former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Malruni-ed.) Asked him if the press had a Press. When Andreas said that she had arranged, Malruni quoted Sir Winston Churchill: “If you are going through hell, continue to go.” Thus, according to Held & Review, it was the former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Malruni that was the first to publicly attribute a quote to the British colleague. After that, the phrase more and more often began to be used as a statement by Winston Churchill. In Runet, she began to spread only since 2013 in Blogs And collections Quote, but immediately behind the "authorship" of Churchill.

Thus, we were not able to find any evidence in academic literature and published by researchers of archival documents that the quote “if you go through hell, continue to go” belongs to Churchill. The phrase similar to this aphorism first appeared in the Christian magazine in 1943, even during the life of Churchill. And it was British policy that became the quote by mistake already many years after his death in 1965.

Image on the cover: Wikimedia

Incorrect attribution of quote

What do our verdicts mean?

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