Quotes from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“The present is never tidy, or certain, or reasonable, and those who try to make it so once it becomes the past succeed only in making it seem implausible.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“A baboon in a forest is a matter of legitimate speculation; a baboon in a Zoo is an object of public curiosity; but a baboon in your wife’s bed is a cause of the gravest concern.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“They were following their prime minister, matching their government's mood.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“Nazi aggression, one might think, should have lent support to Winston’s candidacy. At this, of all times, it seems inconceivable that Baldwin would pick a weak man to supervise the defense of England. Nevertheless, that was what he did. Baldwin said outright: “If I pick Winston, Hitler will be cross.” In his biography of Chamberlain, Keith Feiling writes that the Rhineland was “decisive against Winston’s appointment”; it was “obvious that Hitler would not like it.” As the prime minister’s heir apparent, Chamberlain encouraged Baldwin to think along these lines. He suggested that Baldwin choose a man “who would excite no enthusiasm” and “create no jealousies.” The prime minister agreed. On Saturday, March 14—exactly a week since German troops had crossed the Rhine—he announced that he was establishing, not a ministry of defense, but a ministry for coordination of defense. Its leader, the new cabinet member, would be Sir Thomas Inskip.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“In Parliament a fellow MP whispered to him that his trousers were unfastened. “It makes no difference,” Winston replied wryly. “The dead bird doesn’t leave the nest.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“Churchill warned them now: “When you are drifting down the stream of Niagara, it may easily happen that from time to time you run into a reach of quite smooth water, or that a bend in the river or a change in the wind may make the roar of the falls seem far more distant. But”—his voice dropped a register, and only those who strained could hear—“your hazard and your preoccupation are in no way affected thereby.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“The author points out that novices to total war, and this Hitler and the British press have in common, overreact to daily events and lose sight of overall strategy.”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

“éminence grise, the coalition government disciplined”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

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― Dante Alighieri, quote from Vita Nuova

“It is the bliss of childhood that we are being warped most when we know it the least.”
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“Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were a very notorious couple of cats.
As knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians,
Tight-rope walkers and acrobats
They had an extensive reputation.
[...]
When the family assembled for Sunday dinner,
With their minds made up that they wouldn’t get thinner
On Argentine joint, potatoes and greens,
And the cook would appear from behind the scenes
And say in a voice that was broken with sorrow
"I'm afraid you must wait and have dinner tomorrow!
For the joint has gone from the oven like that!"
Then the family would say: "It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie – or Rumpleteazer!" -
And most of the time they left it at that.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had a wonderful way of working together.
And some of the time you would say it was luck
And some of the time you would say it was weather.
They would go through the house like a hurricane,
And no sober person could take his oath
Was it Mungojerrie – or Rumpleteazer?
Or could you have sworn that it mightn't be both?

And when you heard a dining room smash
Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming
Then the family would say: "Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! And Rumpleteazer!"
And there's nothing at all to be done about that!”
― T.S. Eliot, quote from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

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