A popular quote attributed to the British politician about the different facets of courage is popular on the Internet. We decided to check if he said anything like that.
Phrase meets V articles, dedicated to Churchill, collections his quotes, as well as websites aphorisms. This statement is published by users of social networks (“VKontakte", Facebook, Instagram) And blogging platforms. Authors of motivational literature include this quote in your books. The wording of the statement in publications differs somewhat, but the meaning remains the same.
Winston Churchill - one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century, who twice served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. During World War II, he, along with Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, shaped the strategy of the anti-Hitler coalition in the fight against Nazi Germany. In 1953, Churchill was awarded Nobel Prize in literature with the wording “For the high skill of works of a historical and biographical nature, as well as for brilliant oratory, with the help of which the highest human values were defended.” It is not surprising that his statements are still popular on the Internet - both real and erroneously attributed to him.
The phrase being analyzed with attribution to Churchill is found not only in the Russian-language segment of the Network, but also in English-speaking, and there are no discrepancies in the wording. However, on the largest portals that study numerous texts by the British ex-prime minister, his speeches, interviews and articles about him, “Verified” could not find such a quote. It's not in the database either. Churchill Archives Center at the University of Cambridge, and on the portal project "Churchill" at Hillsdale College, whose staff collected and digitized more than 20 million words written by the politician’s hand. But she is mentioned on the site International Churchill Society, however, in the section with quotes attributed to the politician erroneously. The portal’s experts claim that although the phrase is attributed to the ex-prime minister quite often on the Internet, it is absent from his texts.
Quote Investigator Quote Validation Portal found outthat such a statement was first published during Churchill’s lifetime - in 1964 in an article in Quote: The Weekly Digest. However, then journalists attributed it to William Arthur Ward, an American author of motivational literature. This phrase was put into Churchill’s mouth only in 1976, 11 years after his death. Apparently, he was first listed as its author in a Forbes magazine publication.
“Verified” has previously examined quotes erroneously attributed to Churchill. So, he never said that lie manages to travel halfway around the world while the truth puts on its pants, did not say that sometimes you need to imitate ship wreckso that the rats would run away from him, and did not encourage him to continue walking if you're going through hell.
Thus, there is no reason to believe that Churchill had anything to do with the quote about different types of courage. Such thoughts are not found in his speeches and the written legacy left after his death. They began to attribute this statement to the politician only 11 years after his death; before that, it was distributed under the signature of another person.
Cover photo: Library and Archives Canada, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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