Churchill was with a group of political friends who had achieved high office comparatively early in life. They were discussing their careers and someone asked whether they had expected to be where they were. They all said, "No," with the exception of Churchill, who was then home secretary at the age of thirty-five. "Yes," he said. "Napoleon won Austerlitz at my age."
And once, when talking to a young woman, Violet Asquith, at the dinner table, Churchill asked her how old she was. She replied that she was nineteen. "And I," Churchill said almost despairingly, "am in my thirties already." On reflection, he added, "Younger than anyone else who counts though." Then he burst into a diatribe about the brevity of life and ended: "We are all worms, but I do believe that I'm a glow-worm."
邱吉爾和一群政界朋友一起，談到彼此的事業。他們都是年紀尚輕就身居要津。或問大家從前可曾想到會有這樣的成就，大家都說「沒有」，邱吉爾卻例外。他當時三十五歲，任內政部長，說道：「當然想到。拿破崙在我這個年紀，就贏得奧斯德立茲戰役。」
又有一次，邱吉爾和少女維奧利特．阿斯奎思一起吃晚飯，問她年紀，她說十九歲。邱吉爾嗒然若喪，說道：「我已經三十多歲了。」他想了想，又說：「不過，當今有點地位者之中，我已是最年輕的了。」他隨即大歎人生苦短，最後說：「我們都渺小如蟲，但我深信自己是螢火蟲。」