Upon this battle depends the battle of civilization Upon it depends our own life And the long continuity of our institutions and our empire The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us They will have to break us in this island or lose the war If we can stand up to him The life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands But if we fail Then the whole world, including all that we have known and cared for Will sink into the abyss of a new dark age Made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, By the lights of perverted science Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves That if the British Empire and its Commonwealth Lasts for a thousand years Men will still say This was their finest hour