Modern
Winston Churchill
1874–1965
Prime minister in 1940
Blood, toil, tears and sweat — the toil is not optional. He wrote his war speeches to be spoken, and the beaches speech is a list of places Britain did not intend to surrender. The tidy versions came later, from people who wanted a shorter poster.
In the canon
- We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
- I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
- Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’