Peaky Blinders (TV Series)

Mr. Jones (2019)

Neil Maskell: Winston Churchill

Quotes 

• Churchill : You speak beautifully in the House.

  Thomas Shelby : Thank you.

  Churchill : And believe not a word of what you are saying.

  Thomas Shelby : Conviction introduces emotion, which is the enemy of oratory.

  Churchill : You read Greek literature.

  Thomas Shelby : I have trouble sleeping. Is there a reason for your visit, Mr. Churchill?

  Churchill : You are forming an alliance with a fascist. So, I made some inquiries amongst the worst people in Whitehall, and I found out that you are not forming an alliance with him at all. You are spying on him.

  Thomas Shelby : Yes.

  Churchill : Why?

  Thomas Shelby : The honest answer is... I'm no longer sure.

  Churchill : Do you dig your own garden, Mr. Shelby?

  Thomas Shelby : I have a gardener. In fact, I have three gardeners. Three generations of men with no ambition, who are happier than I will ever be.

  Churchill : Well, if you ask them, they will tell you that there are certain species of weed. No matter how much you tug at them, poison them, they continue to grow back. In the end, the only solution is to plough up the topsoil, create a field of mud, and blow up and burn the exposed taproots. That's what you and I did in France. But when I hear that man Mosley speak, I see the green shoots of another war growing up around his feet. And you see exactly the same thing I do. That's why you oppose him. Yeah. Your mystery, solved. What is your strategy?

  Thomas Shelby : I won't burden you with it.

  Churchill : You're going to break the law.

  Thomas Shelby : [sighs]  I need to sleep.

  Churchill : You said you don't sleep.

  Thomas Shelby : I said I have trouble sleeping.

  Churchill : As do I... as do I. Mr. Shelby, I have no doubts that there was once a time in Flanders, when you were under the ground and I was above it, both working to the same end. We are in the same exact situation here in Westminster. Do what you have to do, Mr. Shelby. And if you need anything, call me.

  Thomas Shelby : There are some times, some nights... when I don't see the point of carrying on with any of it.

  Churchill : Hmm. That old dance routine. I put out a cigar, and an hour later, I want another. Sometimes the bridge between hours is as fragile as that. But use it anyway. A tent, then a boat, then a house, now a mansion. It's something, isn't it?

  Thomas Shelby : Yeah. It is something.

• Churchill : You prefer Irish to Scotch?

  Thomas Shelby : Yes, Mr. Churchill.

  Churchill : Irish over Scotch. Cigarettes over Havana cigars. And your mother was probably born in a tent.

  Thomas Shelby : Grandmother in a tent. Me mother on a narrowboat.

  Churchill : And always happy to give smart answers to men born better than you.

  Thomas Shelby : A man needs to prove he is better than me, rather than show me his birth certificate. See, I don't have one, so they mean very little to me.

• Churchill : By the way, was it you who killed that Ulsterman intelligence officer? I forget his name.

  Thomas Shelby : Major Campbell.

  Churchill : Yes. Campbell.

  Thomas Shelby : No. It was me aunt.

  Churchill : I really must come up to Birmingham someday and spend an evening with your family. They sound interesting.

  Thomas Shelby : Yes. We'd like that.