If we open up a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.

More from Winston Churchill

• A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
• By noon it was clear that the Socialists would have a majority. At luncheon my wife said to me, ‘It may well be a blessing in disguise.’ I replied, ‘At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised.’
• Everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be made like this?
• Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt...Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
• I am not sure I should have dared to start; but I am sure that I should not have dared to stop.
• I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.