The phrase "blood, toil, tears and sweat" became famous in a speech given by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

on 13 May 1940. The speech is sometimes known by that name.

Background

This was Churchill's first speech since becoming prime minister. It was made on 13 May 1940 to the House of Commons after having been offered the King's commission the previous Friday, to become

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...

in the first year of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Churchill had replaced Neville Chamberlain on 10 May, and in this speech he asked the House to declare its confidence in his Government. The motion passed unanimously. This was the first of three speeches which he gave during the period of the Battle of France, which commenced with the German invasion of the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

on 10 May.

History

Churchill had used similar phrases earlier, such as "Their sweat, their tears, their blood" in 1931,Bohle, Bruce. Quoted in and "new structures of national life erected upon blood, sweat, and tears". Churchill's sentence, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat," has been called a paraphrase of one uttered on 2 July 1849 by Giuseppe Garibaldi when rallying his revolutionary forces in Rome: "I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battle, and death." As a young man, Churchill had considered writing a biography of Garibaldi. The circumstances under which Garibaldi made that speech—with the revolutionary

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

being overwhelmed and Garibaldi needing to maintain the morale of his troops towards a highly hazardous retreat through the Apennine mountains—was in some ways comparable to Britain's situation with France being overwhelmed by the German offensive.

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

uttered a phrase similar to Churchill's in an address to the United States Naval War College on 2 June 1897, following his appointment as federal Assistant Secretary of the Navy: "Every man among us is more fit to meet the duties and responsibilities of citizenship because of the perils over which, in the past, the nation has triumphed; because of the blood and sweat and tears, the labor and the anguish, through which, in the days that have gone, our forefathers moved on to triumph." Churchill's line has been called a "direct quotation" from Roosevelt's speech. Churchill, a man with an American mother and a keen soldier, was likely to have read works by Theodore Roosevelt, who was a widely published military historian; it is also possible he read the speech after being appointed

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

, a position similar to Roosevelt's. Other versions of the phrase are "It oetryis forged slowly and painfully, link by link, with blood and sweat and tears" ( Lord Alfred Douglas, 1919), "Blood, sweat, and tear-wrung millions" (

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

, 1823), and "...mollifie/ It with thy teares, or sweat, or blood" ( John Donne, 1611). In Latin,

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

and

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

had used the phrase "sweat and blood".

Excerpts

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: 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.

(Text as given in ''Hansard'')

Reaction

Churchill had not been the preferred choice of most Conservatives to succeed Chamberlain, but the motion on 13 May "That this House welcomes the formation of a Government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion" passed unanimously. He had been unpopular in many circles since the 1930s and MPs had ignored or

heckle A heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout encouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of di ...

d his speeches denouncing the prime minister's appeasement policy toward Germany; even others who opposed Chamberlain avoided him. One historian has described the speech's effect on Parliament, however, as "electrifying ... He was still speaking at the House of Commons, but it was now listening, and cheering." (However, Churchill himself subsequently held that many Conservative MPs had still regarded him with reserve and it was not until his speech of 4 July 1940 announcing British action against the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir that he could feel he had the full support of the whole House.) Other great speeches followed, including the "

We shall fight on the beaches "We shall fight on the beaches" is a common title given to a speech delivered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940. This was the second of three major sp ...

" speech of 4 June and the "

This was their finest hour "This was their finest hour" was a speech delivered by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 18 June 1940, just over a month after he took over as Prime Minister at the head of an all-party coalition government. It ...

" speech of 18 June, and were a great inspiration and unifying force to Britain after its defeats in the first year of the war.

Legacy

On 26 April 2013, the Bank of England announced that beneath a portrait of Churchill the phrase "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." was to adorn the new 5-pound note. It was issued in September 2016.Bank of England (2013)
Sir Winston Churchill: the historical figure on the next new banknote

References

External links

The Churchill Centre: Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat
with a short introduction

{{Authority control 1940 in the United Kingdom World War II speeches British political phrases Quotations from military English-language idioms Speeches by Winston Churchill May 1940 events 1940 speeches 1940 in politics 1940s neologisms