Darkest Hour (2017)

Gary Oldman: Winston Churchill

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Winston Churchill : You can not reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth.

• Winston Churchill : Those who never change their mind never change anything.

• Winston Churchill : Nations which go down fighting rise again, and those that surrender tamely are finished.

• Winston Churchill : [In the toilet]  Please tell the Privy Seal that I'm sealed in the privy and I can only deal with one shit at a time.

• Winston Churchill : Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.

• Winston Churchill : Will you stop interrupting me while I am interrupting you!

• [last lines] 

  Winston Churchill : Those who never change their mind never change anything.

  Legislator : What just happened?

  Viscount Halifax : He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.

• Winston Churchill : I'm getting the job only because the ship is sinking. It's not a gift, it's revenge.

• King George VI : How do you manage drinking during the day?

  Winston Churchill : Practice.

• Winston Churchill : How old?

  Mother : Five months, sir. He looks like you.

  Winston Churchill : Madam, all babies look like me.

• Winston Churchill : Turning once again to the question of invasion I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast, when an absolute guarantee against invasion could have been given to our people. I have, myself full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. 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, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old!

• King George VI : I believe we are to meet regularly.

  Winston Churchill : Once a week, I'm afraid.

  King George VI : How is... How are you for Mondays?

  Winston Churchill : Um, I shall endeavor to be available on Mondays.

  King George VI : 4:00?

  Winston Churchill : I nap at 4:00.

  King George VI : Is that permissible?

  Winston Churchill : No. But necessary. I work late.

• Winston Churchill : My father was like God. Busy elsewhere.

• President Roosevelt : Good night to you, Winston. It must be late there.

  Winston Churchill : In more ways than you could possibly know.

• Winston Churchill : Do I have your, uh, permission, uh, to send, uh, an aircraft carrier to pick up the P-40 fighter planes we purchased from you? Mr. President?

  President Roosevelt : Well, you-you've got me there again. New law preventing transshipment of military equipment.

  Winston Churchill : Uh, but we paid for them. We-we paid for them with the money that we... that we borrowed from you.

• Winston Churchill : I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

• Winston Churchill : [Referring to Clement Attlee]  He's a sheep in sheep's clothing.

• Clemmie : Are we terribly old?

  Winston Churchill : Yes, I'm afraid you are.

  Clemmie : Oh, you beast!

• Winston Churchill : [in his first speech as Prime Minister]  But now one bond unites us all. To wage war until victory is won, and never to surrender ourselves to servitude and shame. Whatever the cost and the agony may be, conquer we must, as conquer we shall.

• Winston Churchill : [Preparing to exit the toilet]  I'm coming out in a state of nature!

• Winston Churchill : On certain matters I have very few people with whom I can... talk frankly.

  King George VI : Perhaps now we have each other.

  Winston Churchill : And I no longer scare you?

  King George VI : A little. But I can cope.

• Winston Churchill : [shouting at a photo of Hitler]  HOUSEPAINTER!

• Winston Churchill : [riding the train]  What are you all staring at? Have you never seen, uh, the prime minister ride the Underground before?

• King George VI : One never knows what's going to come out of your mouth next. Something that'll flatter, something that'll wound.

  Winston Churchill : My e-emotions are unbridled. A wildness. In the blood. I share with my father. And my mother also. We lack the gift of temperance.

• Winston Churchill : There is no doubt that if we falter at all in the leading of the nation we should all be hurled out of office.

• Winston Churchill : D'you know, I've never ridden a bus? I've never queued for bread. I believe I can boil an egg... but only because I've seen it done. The only time I tried riding the Underground was during the General Strike. Clemmie dropped me off at South Kensington station. I went down but got lost. I came straight back up! It was awful.

• [Clemmie proposes that the family drink a toast to Winston who has just become Prime Minister] 

  Winston Churchill : [raising his glass of champagne]  Here's to... to not buggering it up.

  All : To not buggering it up!

• [having accepted the post of Prime Minister, Churchill must now have regular meetings with the King] 

  Sir Anthony Eden : You only have to meet him once a week.

  Winston Churchill : But that's like saying you only have to have your tooth pulled once a week.

• Elizabeth Layton : [laughing at Churchill's picture in the newspaper]  I'm not sure if you know this, but, um... t-t-the way you're doing your "V for victory" sign... well, in the poorer quarters, that gesture means something else.

  Winston Churchill : What does it mean?

  Elizabeth Layton : Well, I wouldn't like to say, sir.

  Winston Churchill : I was captured by the Boer. I spent time in a South African prison.

  Elizabeth Layton : "Up your bum." Sir.

  Winston Churchill : "Up your bum"?

  [roaring with laughter] 

  Winston Churchill : Up your...

  Elizabeth Layton : [laughing, too]  The way you're doing it, sir, yes, sir. But if you turn it around, that's fine. I wouldn't like millions of people to take it the wrong way.

  Winston Churchill : Indeed.

• Winston Churchill : My poor judgement.

• Viscount Halifax : I will not stand by and watch another generation of young men die at the bloody altar of your hubris!

  Winston Churchill : No, you would have us die as lambs!

  Viscount Halifax : Was Gallipoli not enough for you?

  Winston Churchill : HOW DARE YOU! Our troops were chewing barbed wire in Flanders and I saw it! Opening a second front, outflanking the Turks was a serious military idea and it could have damn well worked if the Admirals and the First Sea Lord hadn't dithered away the element of surprise!

• Winston Churchill : The German army controls every French port except Dunkirk here and Calais here to the west, where the garrison under Brigadier Nicholson is drawing fire and delaying the German advance on Dunkirk. At both points, our troops are encircled. Now, we are still trying to clear Dunkirk Harbor of wrecked ships so that we can then land the boats we need to get our-our boys off those beaches. But enemy aircraft is attacking us constantly. Our... our only hope in Dunkirk is thick cloud cover to thwart these attacks, but the skies remain clear. And even then, I am told we still need a-a-a miracle to get even 10% of our men out. Courage, Miss Layton. Courage.

  [going over to a military advisor] 

  Winston Churchill : General.

  Elizabeth Layton : How... how long have they got... if we don't rescue them?

  Winston Churchill : One, maybe... two days.

• Clemmie : Come to bed, Pug. You've got to sleep.

  Winston Churchill : Leave me Clemmie.

  Clemmie : Yes, well, my opportunity to do that passed a long time ago... .