Fact Check: Winston Churchill Said, 'If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going'?

Claim:

Former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Rating:

Misattributed ( About this rating? )

The internet loves to attribute quotes to the former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill. One in particular has been viral for several years, made it into a Forbes story, and was even engraved onto merchandise. According to all these posts, Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."

(X user @visegrad24)

We found no evidence of Churchill — who died in 1965 — using these words in his writings or in his speeches. We looked for variations of the quote in a number of texts as well. The International Churchill Society, an organization that keeps a collection of his speeches and writings, has also said it could not find this quote. As such, we rate this claim as "Misattributed."

We first searched for the quote in the book " Churchill by Himself: In His Own Words ," which has a selection of quotes by Churchill, and found nothing similar to the above quotes. The quote did appear in the appendix of the book, under the section titled " Red Herrings ," which referred to quotes falsely attributed to Churchill. Richard M. Langworth, the editor of this collection, is considered a foremost expert on Churchill, and is a senior fellow at The Churchill Project at Hillsdale College.

The International Churchill Society, which describes itself as a "member organisation dedicated to preserving the historic legacy of Sir Winston Churchill," explicitly debunked the rumor in a list of quotes erroneously attributed to Churchill on its website. The organization stated :

'If you're going through hell, keep going.'

We have yet to see any correct attribution of this quote that frequently appears on the Internet and printed on motivation posters. This fake quote is not a phrase that is contained anywhere in the canon of Winston Churchill's written or spoken words.

Quote Investigator , a research site dedicated to debunking quotations, found an early variation of the quote in a 1943 paper, the "Christian Science Sentinel" journal of Boston, Massachusetts. The passage, written by an editor, John Randall Dunn, reportedly said (emphasis, ours):

Someone once asked a man how he was. He replied, "I'm going through hell!" Said his friend: "Well, keep on going. That is no place to stop!" If you seem to be going through the deep waters of physical anguish and cannot for the moment seem to gain the understanding which binds the strong man, keep on going — keep on clinging to Truth, and hear again the comforting, strengthening message, "My grace is sufficient for thee." God, divine Love, is eternally sustaining His child, and will "bind the power of pain" as surely as the summer sun will melt the stubborn frost.

The passage did not provide any name or specifics about the men who purportedly had this exchange.

We also input variations of the quote into the Churchill Archives Center's digital repository housed at the University of Cambridge. Those searches did not return any connection to Churchill.

Many individuals have been tied to this quote, including television personality Steve Harvey and self-help author Douglas Bloch , among others. However, there is no definitive evidence tying it to Churchill.

This is not the first time we've fact-checked a quote claimed to be from Churchill without evidence. We found "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts" was another quote misattributed to Churchill.

Sources:

"Death of Winston Churchill." The National Archives, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/sixties-britain/death-winston-churchill-2/ . Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

Churchill, Winston S. "Churchill by Himself: In His Own Words." Rosetta Books, 2013. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

Ibrahim, Nur. "Did Churchill Say 'Success Is Not Final, Failure Is Not Fatal'?" Snopes, 23 Jan. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/winston-churchill-quote-success-failure/. " target="blank">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/winston-churchill-quote-success-failure/.">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/winston-churchill-quote-success-failure/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

"If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going." Quote Investigator®, 14 Sept. 2014, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/14/keep-going/. " target="blank">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/14/keep-going/.">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/14/keep-going/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

Loftus, Geoff. "If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going - Winston Churchill." Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffloftus/2012/05/09/if-youre-going-through-hell-keep-going-winston-churchill/ . Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

"Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston Churchill." International Churchill Society, 17 Jan. 2023, https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/. " target="blank">https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/.">https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.