Yet Britain still had ‘immense reserves and advantages’, and, he concluded: ‘I am convinced that every man of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.’

By nightfall on 10 May 1940 Churchill was Prime Minister. He later wrote of how, when he went to bed that night, he was conscious ‘of a profound sense of relief. At last I had authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.’

That summer, working mostly at Chartwell, Churchill completed the third volume of his Marlborough biography. A young Oxford don, Bill Deakin, agreed to help him organize the enormous amount of historical material. It was a time of formidable concentration. ‘I never saw him tired,’ Deakin later recalled. ‘He was absolutely totally organized, almost like a clock. He knew how to husband his energy, he knew how to expend it. His routine was absolutely dictatorial. He set himself

On his second Sunday in Dallas Truett called the trustees into conference about a proposed offering for state missions. The brethren made no attempt to back down on their promise that he was free to take such a collection, but they pointed out that the church was not accustomed to such offerings and that the pastor must not be disappointed if the amount were small. He asked,” How much do you brethren think we can get?” The trustees replied, “Twenty-five dollars at the most.”

And in general, Rome being divided into three great interests, those of Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus (for as for Cato, his fame was greater than his power, and he was rather admired than followed), the sober and quiet part were for Pompey, the restless and hot-headed followed Caesar’s ambition, but Crassus trimmed between them, making advantages of both, and changed side continually, being neither a trusty friend nor an implacable enemy, and easily abandoned both his attachmen

“He,” (Nicia) said Hiero, “can never be either at the bath or at his meat but some public business interferes. Careless of his own and zealous for the public good, he scarcely ever goes to bed till after others have had their first sleep. So that his health is impaired and his body out of order, nor is he cheerful or affable with his friends, but loses them as well as his money in the service of the state, while other men gain friends by public speaking, enrich themselves, fa

Fabricius was a Roman leader when Rome was at war with Pyrrhus. There were trying to negotiate a peace treaty when the following occurred:

"For it is not as hard a task to gratify the indigent and distressed, as to bear up against and to dare to incur the anger of the powerful."

For he has no time for great matters who concerns himself with petty ones; nor can he relieve many needs of others, who himself has many needs of his own. What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind from the common good. God alone is entirely exempt from all want: of human virtues, that which needs least is the most absolute and most divine.

For he (Aristides), when Themistocles once was saying that he thought the highest virtue of a general was to understand and foreknow the measures the enemy would take, replied, “This, indeed, Themistocles, is simply necessary, but the excellent thing in a general is to keep his hands from taking money.”

In conclusion, they rejected Marcius. Two other names were announced, to the great mortification of the senators, who felt as if the indignity reflected upon themselves than on Marcius. He, for his part, could not bear the affront with any patience. He had always indulged his temper, and had regarded the proud and contentious element of human nature as a sort of nobleness and magnanimity; reason and discipline had not imbued him with that solidity and equanimity which enters

It is told of him, that being informed of a certain Marsian, eminent for courage and good birth, who had been speaking underhand with some of the soldiers about deserting, Fabius was so far from using severity against him, that he called for him, and told him he was sensible of the neglect that had been shown to his merit and good service, which, he said, was a great fault in the commanders who reward more by favour than by desert; “but henceforth, whenever you are aggrieved,

Fabius: “I should be more faint-hearted than they make me, if, through fear of idle reproaches, I should abandon my own convictions. It is no inglorious thing to have fear for the safety of our country, but to be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation, shows a man unfit to hold an office such as this, which, by such conduct, he makes the slaves of those whose errors it is his business to control.”

Pericles:

The composure of Pericles:

Great story of the Roman General Camillus….., giving liberty to the chief citizens to choose what magistrates they pleased, and to appoint Camillus military tribune, with five colleagues; affairs then requiring a commander of authority and reputation, as well as experience. And when the people had ratified the election, he marched with his forces into the territories of the Faliscans, and laid siege to Falerii, a well-fortified city, and plentifully stored with all necessarie

Themistocles knew the Persians were coming to Greece, but the people did not view the Persians as a threat. Themistocles found another way to prepare for the inevitable war:

Themistocles:

The leadership of the Roman ruler Valerius:

King Theopompus, responding when one said that Sparta was great because of great kings, he said….“Nay, rather because the people know so well how to obey.” For people do not obey, unless rulers know how to command; obedience is a lesson taught by commanders. A true leader himself creates the obedience of his own followers; as it is the last attainment in the art of riding to make a horse gentle and tractable, so is it of the science of government, to inspire men with a willin

Peace was scarcely broken-if at all. Rome was plunged in gloom, the ruler uninterested in expanding the empire.

Alexander Hamilton:

During the war the media was brutal on Lincoln, after his death, these same papers praised him as the savior of America:

Carey took the prophet's words addressed to ancient Israel in a time of distress and applied it to the Church in his day. Indeed, there was much in his own experience of the Church to confirm the sullen image Isaiah paints: a barren widow, bereft of her husband, with no offspring to give hope or cheer. Yet the prophet calls for rejoicing, not lamentation; for celebration, not sorrow. The promise is this: God is about to restore the Church and His work will be extraordinary an