Winston Churchill

Apposite Aphorisms:
The Seven Ages of Man
Douglas J. Hall
In a recent BBC poll for
Britons of the Millennium,
Shakespeare and Churchill
finished first and second (see
Datelines, page 6). Darrell Holley
wrote in Churchill's Literary Allusions
(New York: McFarland &
Company 1987), "There is no
English author whom Churchill
alludes to as often as to William
Shakespeare. Both by formal quotations,
some quite lengthy, and
by well-known phrases almost
hidden in his text, Churchill
makes allusion to many of Shakespeare's
plays....[He] uses the lines
of Shakespeare in various capacities:
as illustrations in his history
of England, as embellishments in
his other historical works, and as
support in speeches to Parliament.
In various ways he borrows the
artist's words to ornament his own
ideas."
The Seven Ages of Man from
As You Like It are probably among
the most quoted lines written by
William Shakespeare. They were
written between 1596 and 1600
and I thought it might be amusing
to compare them with a selection
of apposite aphorisms, maxims
and opinions taken from the
20th century speeches and writings
of Winston Spencer
Churchill.
My choices may, of course,
not entirely be "as you like it." If
not, why not take time to put together
a selection of your own
choosing?
ABOUT BOOKS
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely
players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many
parts,
His acts being seven ages.
At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's
arms.
And then the whining schooolboy,
With his satchel and shining morning
face,
Creeping like a snail unwillingly to
school.
And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress's eyebrow.
Then a soldier, full of strange oaths,
And bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in
quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon
lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.
The sixth age shifts into the lean and
slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose
And pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd a world
too wide
For his shrunk shank;
And his big manly voice turning
Again towards childish treble,
Pipes and whistles in his sound.
Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
In second childishness,
And mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans
everything.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
I have always taken the view that the
fortunes of mankind in its tremendous
journey are principally decided for good
or ill—but mainly for good, for the
path is upward—by its greatest men
and its greatest episodes.
(9 January 1941)
There is no finer investment for any
community than putting milk into babies.
(21 March 1943)
How I hated this school, and what a
life of anxiety I lived there...I made
very little progress at my lessons, and
none at all at games.
(My Early Life, 1930)
...until September 1908, when I married
and lived happily ever afterwards.
(My Early Life, 1930)
In making an army, three elements are
necessary—men, weapons and money.
There must also be time....
What are we fighting for? If we left off
fighting you would soon find out.
(1 December 1948....30 March 1940)
It is desirable that persons concerned
with the administration of justice
should carefully acquaint themselves
with the nature and character of any
punishment which they may be authorised
to order. (24 February 1910)
The prospect of attaining extreme old
age, of living beyond threescore years
and ten, which is the allotted span of
human life, seems so doubtful and
remote to the ordinary man, when in
the full strength of manhood, that it
has been found in practice almost
impossible to secure from any very
great number of people the regular sacrifices
which are necessary to guard
against old age. (23 May 1909)
We have to organize our lives and the
life of our cities on the basis of
dwelling under fire and having always
this additional—not very serious
chance—of death added to the ordinary
precarious character of human
existence. (8 October 1940) M>
FINEST HOUR 101/49