Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Speech ·301 of 348
"This is the beginning of the end."
They never said that.
What people say
"This is the beginning of the end."
What was actually said
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill — Mansion House speech, 10 November 1942
Why it stuck
Churchill's triple negation and careful climax is inverted by the modern "beginning of the end." The original is specific: we are at the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end.
The speech came after the British victory at El Alamein — the first major Allied land victory of the war. Churchill chose every preposition precisely.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.