May 13 Churchill Offer "Blood, toil, tears and sweat."

“Nations that went down fighting rose again, but those who surrendered tamely were finished.”

Four days after becoming prime minister, Winston Churchill struck a determined note with his first speech before parliament, uttering the famous lines "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat".

The full speech is well worth reading. I especially respect the last paragraph and the last two sentences of that paragraph: “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.”

Here is the full speech:

Sir, to form an Administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself, but it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many points, in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous, and that many preparations ... have to be made here at home. ...

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 and 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.

Honor and remember Winston Churchill, the man who saved western civilization in 1940. He knew that “Nations that went down fighting rose again, but those who surrendered tamely were finished.”