Engy
What is the significance of "finest hour"? does it literally mean happiest time? This is the context, and the literal meaning doesn't seem to fit here: Winston Churchill once said, ‘To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.’
Nov 13, 2015 12:25 AM
Answers · 5
4
Churchill's "Finest hour" quote is generally regarded to be this one: "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour." Their finest hour means "the moment of their greatest success".
November 13, 2015
3
"One's finest hour" as an English expression among many is not particularly significant. Churchill's use of it in that speech is significant on two counts: 1. The speech is known as the "This was their finest hour" speech. 2. He told Britons that they were fighting not only for their own country, but for civilisation. Even at a moment of great apparent danger to British national survival he talked not only of national survival and national interest, but of noble causes (freedom, 'Christian civilisation', the rights of small nations). Churchill was using the speech to influence U.S. sentiments too, urging the Americans to join in the defence of civilisation. The finest hour, according to Churchill, was about trying one's best to defend noble causes. It is about fighting for higher ideals. That is why it is significant.
November 13, 2015
1
It was not a stock expression. After Churchill used it in that speech, that particular phrase became associated with that speech and with Churchill. The phrase "This was their finest hour" is a Churchill _quotation_. Another one is "Never was so much owed by so many to so few." And another is "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
November 13, 2015
1
prime of life, your greatest achievements, top of the hill, as opposed to over the hill.
November 13, 2015
1
It means the best and most important time in their lives. If you use the words "finest hour", people will likely think you are referring to that speech and that time; that's how famous it is.
November 13, 2015
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!