DeSantis ends bid using a Winston Churchill quote. But did the British leader say it?

While ending his 2024 Republican presidential campaign Sunday, Gov. Ron DeSantis fell back on words he attributed to Winston Churchill.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts,” the governor quoted.

The Florida governor ended his campaign less than 48 hours before the New Hampshire primary, a contest that he had virtually no chance of winning. The decision comes less than a week after DeSantis finished in a distant second place in the Iowa caucuses.

READ MORE: DeSantis Backs Down: Florida’s governor ends his presidential campaign

However, according to the International Churchill Society, the British political figure never said the quote to which DeSantis referred.

An article posted on the society’s website in 2013 states that although frequently tied to Churchill, the wartime leader never uttered nor wrote such words.

The society’s determination, the article states, was based on a review of “fifty million words by and about Churchill,” which included all his speeches and writings.

However, there are two similar quotes that Churchill did say, according to the society.

▪ “No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.”

▪ “Success always demands a greater effort.”