“Winnie” & “Clemmie”

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I was looking for a long Audible book I could listen to on a road trip from Wyoming to Utah. I came across a book that was 50.5 hours long titled Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts. This book was perfect because it actually lasted me several road trips! I was greatly inspired by this book, and I cried when it came to the end.

Never, Never …

All I knew about Winston Churchill up to this point in my life was his famous quote, “Never, never, never give up.” This was a phrase I had repeated often to myself throughout my life without knowing the struggles of the man who first said it. Now, I appreciate these words even more.

I found two things that I had in common with Winston Churchill: He liked to work in his bed in the morning, and he liked to take a nap for an hour every afternoon. I loved knowing this information because it validated two of my own favorite routines!

I learned so much about world history, and also about Churchill’s personality and characteristics. While he was outspoken and often ruthless in expressing his opinions, he was also kind and compassionate, fearless and courageous, cheerful and optimistic, frequently emotional and teary-eyed, and a well-read historian and remarkable orator. He felt deeply of his destiny and wouldn’t let any criticism or ridicule from others ever keep him down. He lived by these words he once penned himself, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Listening to this book was life-changing for me as I learned not only about Winston, but also his beautiful wife, Clementine, and their five children. Winston and Clementine endured much together while staying true and faithful to each other and to the cause of Britain’s Empire in sacrificing for its freedom during World War I and World War II. No matter what setback they experienced, and there were many dark and difficult days for both of them, they kept moving forward together.

56 Years of Marriage

The virtue I admired most about “Winnie” and “Clemmie” was their devotion to each other throughout their 56 years of marriage. Although rumors about infidelity surfaced from time to time, according to this comprehensive, well-researched and documented biography, these rumors were not based on any facts and are not true. While they were away from each other much of the time because of war, politics, and individual responsibilities, they wrote to each other continually. This is an excerpt from one sweet love letter:

My darling Clemmie, in your letter from Madras you wrote some words very dear to me, about having enriched your life. I cannot tell you what pleasure this gave me, because I always feel so overwhelmingly in your debt, if there can be accounts in love…What it has been to me to live all these years in your heart and companionship no phrases can convey.

These are a few of Andrew Roberts’ quotes from his book, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, which I have grown to appreciate.

“The first time you meet Winston you see all his faults,’ she told him, ‘and the rest of your life you spend in discovering his virtues.”

“I am arrogant,’ he once said of himself in a perceptive piece of self-analysis, ‘but not conceited.”

“When you make some great mistake,’ he philosophized, ‘it may very easily serve you better than the best-advised decision.”

“Progress is the principle of the human race . . .”

“Churchill’s speech lasted only seven minutes, but it was one of the greatest ever made in the House of Commons, and one of the triumphs of his oratory:

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.’ We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

Read good books. Learn from history. Follow exemplary role models.

Be strong. Be courageous. Be cheerful.

And “Never, never, never give up!”