“On May 13, 1940, in his first statement as Prime Minister to the British House of Commons, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill declared: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. Those eleven burning words summed up the nature of Britain’s war, turned Britain’s back on the weaknesses of the past, set her face toward the unknown future. Because of them the rest of that speech has been forgotten. It should not be forgotten, for it is not only a great example of Winston Churchill’s eloquence, but the epitome of the movement which he leads.”
—From the January 6, 1941 issue of TIME magazine
“As the 20th Century plunged on, long-familiar bearings were lost in the mists of change. Some of the age’s great leaders called for more & more speed ahead; some tried to reverse the course. Winston Churchill had a different function: his chief contribution was to warn of rocks ahead, and to lead the rescue parties. He was not the man who designed the ship; what he did was to launch the lifeboats. That a free world survived in 1950, with a hope of more progress and less calamity, was due in large measure to his exertions.”
—From the January 2, 1950 issue of TIME magazine