No man is more difficult to shout down, and no man responds more gratefully to opposition of the fiercer kind.

If on several occasions he has disappointed his friends, also on several occasions he has confounded his enemies.
From his youth up Mr.Churchill has loved with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his soul, and with all his strength, three things--war, politics, and himself.

He loved war for its dangers, he loves politics for the same reason, and himself he has always loved for the knowledge that his mind is dangerous--dangerous to his enemies, dangerous to his friends, dangerous to himself.

I can think of no man I have ever met who would so quickly and so bitterly eat his heart out in Paradise.
He was once asked if politics were more to him than any other pursuit of mankind.
"Politics," he replied, "are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous." "Even with the new rifle ?" "Well, in war," he answered, "you can only be killed once, but in politics many times." Unhappily for himself, and perhaps for the nation, since he has many of the qualities of real greatness, Mr.Churchill lacks the unifying spirit of _character_ which alone can master the discrepant or even antagonistic elements in a single mind, giving them not merely force, which is something, but direction, which is much more.

He is a man of truly brilliant gifts, but you cannot depend upon him.