Den irske forfatter George Bernard Shaw havde en lang fejde med en vis Winston Churchill. Shaw sendte Churchill to billetter til premieren på stykket Pygmalion med følgende note:
I have included two tickets so that you may bring a friend, if you have one.
Churchill svarede:
I regret to say that I am unable to attend that night; I would like tickets to the second performance, if you have one.
Tænk hvis der var en dansk kulturpersonlighed, der kunne finde på noget lignende – og der var et medlem af den danske regering, der også kunne anvende andet end floskler.
Churchill var pissesej og altid mand for en slagfærdig replik, Labour-lederen Clement Atlee betegnede han f.eks. sådan:
“A modest man, who has much to be modest about.”
Om demoktrati bemærkede han:
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
Og sin egen gebet beskrev han således:
“Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”
Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are drunk.
Churchill: And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.