"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;" Henry V (1599), W.Shakespeare https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Crispin%27s_Day_Speech https://en.m.wikipedia.or

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;" Henry V (1599), W.Shakespeare https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Crispin%27s_Day_Speech https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Crispin%27s_Day_Speech 'Few' here means 'several' thousand soldiers (~7,000) at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). In the speech, it is explained that few is in comparison to the whole (adult male) population of England (up to 1m). "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." House of Commons (1940), W.Churchill https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so... In a deliberate echo of Shakespeare, Churchill also compares the relatively small number of RAF fighter pilots (~3,000) to the many, the population of Britain, it's Empire, the free world, and perhaps all free peoples into our uncertain future.