--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...only Churchill carries that absolutely…" description: "\"“...only Churchill carries that absolutely required criterion: indispensability. Without Churchill the world today would be unrecognizable--dark, impov..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0da/charles-krauthammer-1232_churchill_only-churchill-carries-that-absolutely-r_2410722.png" --- # ...only Churchill carries that absolutely required… ![“...only Churchill carries that absolutely required criterion: indispensability. Without Churchill the world today would be unrecognizable--dark, impoverished, tortured.” quote by Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0da/charles-krauthammer-1232_churchill_only-churchill-carries-that-absolutely-r_2410722.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0da/charles-krauthammer-1232_churchill_only-churchill-carries-that-absolutely-r_2410722.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0da/charles-krauthammer-1232_churchill_only-churchill-carries-that-absolutely-r_2410722.png) > ““...only Churchill carries that absolutely required criterion: indispensability. Without Churchill the world today would be unrecognizable--dark, impoverished, tortured.”” [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Churchill’s unique leadership was essential; without him the modern world would be vastly poorer and more brutal. **In simple terms:** Churchill was crucial for a better world. Key Takeaway Recognize the impact of decisive leaders. Themes leadership history impact Mood reflective serious Type historical analytical When to use this quote - studying history - political analysis - leadership training Key Concepts great power war political stability Questions to Reflect On - What qualities made Churchill indispensable? - How would history differ without his influence? A Different Perspective Other factors also shaped the 20th century. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/churchill/) [Churchill Carries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/churchill-carries-6068871/) [Criterion Indispensability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criterion-indispensability-6068870/) [Indispensability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indispensability-1294462/) [Indispensability Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indispensability-churchill-6068869/) [Required Criterion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/required-criterion-6068872/) ## Related quotes > [All too often we say of a man doing a good job that he is indispensable. A flattering canard, as so many disillusioned and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/all-too-often-we-say-of-a-man-doing-a-good-job-that-he-is/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [“...every once in a while, a single person arises without whom everything would be different. Such a man was Churchill. After having single-handedly saved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/every-once-in-a-while-a-single-person-arises-without-whom-everything/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“Take away Churchill in 1940...Nazism would have prevailed. Hitler would have achieved what no other tyrant, not even Napoleon, had ever achieved: mastery of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/take-away-churchill-in-1940-nazism-would-have-prevailed-hitler-would/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [ “And who is the hero of that story? Who slew the dragon \[totalitarianism\]? Yes, it was the ordinary man, the taxpayer, the grunt who… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/and-who-is-the-hero-of-that-story-who-slew-the-dragon-totalitarianism/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-zinsser/abraham-lincoln-and-winston-churchill-rode-to-glory-on-the-back-of/) [William Zinsser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-zinsser/) > [The Atlantic conference in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland is a dramatic moment in World War II history because for the first time, Roosevelt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/the-atlantic-conference-in-the-north-atlantic-off-newfoundland-is-a/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [“Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-s-sharma/sure-i-am-that-this-day-we-are-masters-of-our-fate-that-the-task/) [Robin S. Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-s-sharma/) > [Winston Churchill is always expecting rabbits to come out of an empty hat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/winston-churchill-is-always-expecting-rabbits-to-come-out-of-an-empty/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [Churchill may have made some horrendous mistakes - Gallipoli, for one - but he had a sense of the profundity and integrity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-starkey/churchill-may-have-made-some-horrendous-mistakes-gallipoli-for-one/) [David Starkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-starkey/) > [“his other hand. Sensitive to his guest’s affliction, Churchill realized that “every step” was”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-meacham/his-other-hand-sensitive-to-his-guest-s-affliction-churchill-realized/) [Jon Meacham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-meacham/) > [Winston Churchill never said that people had let him down when he lost the elections after the World War II.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raj-thackeray/winston-churchill-never-said-that-people-had-let-him-down-when-he/) [Raj Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raj-thackeray/) > [“We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us. —WINSTON CHURCHILL The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-ban-breathnach/we-shape-our-dwellings-and-afterwards-our-dwellings-shape-us-winston/) [Sarah Ban Breathnach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-ban-breathnach/) > [“Winston Churchill said that people “occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bungay-stanier/winston-churchill-said-that-people-occasionally-stumble-over-the/) [Michael Bungay Stanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bungay-stanier/) > [“The price of greatness...is responsibility - Winston Churchill”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/the-price-of-greatness-is-responsibility-winston-churchill/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [One of the great things about Churchill is that he had the guts to say the unpalatable, to level with the people, even if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-mccarten/one-of-the-great-things-about-churchill-is-that-he-had-the-guts-to/) [Anthony McCarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-mccarten/) ## More by Charles Krauthammer > [Obama and the Democrats were so critical of what Bush did, the interrogations, the secret prisons, Guantanamo and all of that, and even the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/obama-and-the-democrats-were-so-critical-of-what-bush-did-the/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“America is the most welcoming, religiously tolerant, philo-semitic country in the world. No nation since Cyrus the Great’s Persia has done more for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/america-is-the-most-welcoming-religiously-tolerant-philo-semitic/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [I believe in what I believe, and I think after all these years I've heard a lot of arguments, and I'm convinced by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/i-believe-in-what-i-believe-and-i-think-after-all-these-years-i-ve/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [With our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/with-our-financial-house-on-fire-obama-makes-clear-both-in-in-his/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [The conservative idea is not that government has no role. You might have argued that in the thirties when conservatives opposed the New Deal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-conservative-idea-is-not-that-government-has-no-role-you-might/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [The war is not going well and it is time to say why. It has been fought with half-measures. It has been fought with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-war-is-not-going-well-and-it-is-time-to-say-why-it-has-been/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“International stability is never a given. It is never the norm. When achieved, it is the product of self-conscious action by the great powers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/international-stability-is-never-a-given-it-is-never-the-norm-when/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Look, I don't mind if the President sends a budget which he knows is not going to achieve anything. But when he prefaces his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/look-i-don-t-mind-if-the-president-sends-a-budget-which-he-knows-is/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“Politics is the moat, the walls, beyond which lie the barbarians. Fail to keep them at bay, and everything burns.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/politics-is-the-moat-the-walls-beyond-which-lie-the-barbarians-fail/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Don't touch my junk, you airport security goon--my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I'm a Nigerian nut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/don-t-touch-my-junk-you-airport-security-goon-my-package-belongs-to/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“The Russian Revolution and its imitators (Chinese, Cuban, Vietnamese, Cambodian) tried to atomize society so thoroughly--to war against the mediating structures that stand between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-russian-revolution-and-its-imitators-chinese-cuban-vietnamese/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Where religion is trivialized, one is unlikely to find persecution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/where-religion-is-trivialized-one-is-unlikely-to-find-persecution/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [We must now brace ourselves for disquisitions on peer pressure, adolescent anomie, and rage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/we-must-now-brace-ourselves-for-disquisitions-on-peer-pressure/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Post-Watergate morality, by which anything left private is taken as presumptive evidence of wrongdoing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/post-watergate-morality-by-which-anything-left-private-is-taken-as/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity,' warns Czech president Vaclav Klaus, 'is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-largest-threat-to-freedom-democracy-the-market-economy-and/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) [Explore all 268 Charles Krauthammer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) ## More Churchill quotes > [One of the great things about Churchill is that he had the guts to say the unpalatable, to level with the people, even if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-mccarten/one-of-the-great-things-about-churchill-is-that-he-had-the-guts-to/) [Anthony McCarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-mccarten/) > [“The price of greatness...is responsibility - Winston Churchill”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/the-price-of-greatness-is-responsibility-winston-churchill/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [“Winston Churchill said that people “occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bungay-stanier/winston-churchill-said-that-people-occasionally-stumble-over-the/) [Michael Bungay Stanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bungay-stanier/) > [“We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us. —WINSTON CHURCHILL The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-ban-breathnach/we-shape-our-dwellings-and-afterwards-our-dwellings-shape-us-winston/) [Sarah Ban Breathnach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-ban-breathnach/) > [Winston Churchill never said that people had let him down when he lost the elections after the World War II.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raj-thackeray/winston-churchill-never-said-that-people-had-let-him-down-when-he/) [Raj Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raj-thackeray/) > [“his other hand. Sensitive to his guest’s affliction, Churchill realized that “every step” was”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-meacham/his-other-hand-sensitive-to-his-guest-s-affliction-churchill-realized/) [Jon Meacham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-meacham/) > [Churchill may have made some horrendous mistakes - Gallipoli, for one - but he had a sense of the profundity and integrity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-starkey/churchill-may-have-made-some-horrendous-mistakes-gallipoli-for-one/) [David Starkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-starkey/) > [Winston Churchill is always expecting rabbits to come out of an empty hat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/winston-churchill-is-always-expecting-rabbits-to-come-out-of-an-empty/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [“Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-s-sharma/sure-i-am-that-this-day-we-are-masters-of-our-fate-that-the-task/) [Robin S. Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-s-sharma/) > [The Atlantic conference in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland is a dramatic moment in World War II history because for the first time, Roosevelt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/the-atlantic-conference-in-the-north-atlantic-off-newfoundland-is-a/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-zinsser/abraham-lincoln-and-winston-churchill-rode-to-glory-on-the-back-of/) [William Zinsser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-zinsser/) > [“First law of poultry farming: keep your livestock busy with trivial problems, so they stay ever oblivious to systemic criminal activities. That's why the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/first-law-of-poultry-farming-keep-your-livestock-busy-with-trivial/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Foyles War made me realise that Churchill actually had questionable morals; his decisions meant that good people died. It must have weighed heavily on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honeysuckle-weeks/foyles-war-made-me-realise-that-churchill-actually-had-questionable/) [Honeysuckle Weeks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honeysuckle-weeks/) > [Churchill was fundamentally what the English call unstable - by which they mean anybody who has that touch of genius which is inconvenient in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-macmillan/churchill-was-fundamentally-what-the-english-call-unstable-by-which/) [Harold MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-macmillan/) > [Adlai Stevenson, himself a notable speaker, often reminisced about his last meeting with Churchill. I asked him on whom or what he had based…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bourke-cockran/adlai-stevenson-himself-a-notable-speaker-often-reminisced-about-his/) [William Bourke Cockran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bourke-cockran/) [Browse all 213 Churchill quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/churchill/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...only Churchill carries that absolutely required criterion: indispensability. 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