Britain Quotes - Page 15

• The epithets of parent and child have been long applied to Great Britain and her colonies, [but] we rarely see anything from your side of the water except the authoritative style of a master to a school-boy.

  George Mason

  Children, School, Boys

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• Has the grim savage rushed again from the wilderness? Or does some fiend... twang her deadly arrows at our breast? No, none of these: it is the hand of Britain that inflicts the wound.

  Joseph Warren

  Hands, Arrows, Doe

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• Britain is obviously one of the world powers and they bombed the World Trade Centre, which is a landmark in itself, and over in Britain you've got Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower, which are big buildings, so to speak.

  Robbie Kearns

  Rugby League, Towers, World

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• During the late war I had an infallible rule for deciding what Great Britain would do on every occasion. It was, to consider what they ought to do, and to take the reverse of that as what they would assuredly do, and I can say with truth that I was never deceived.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Late, Deceived

  Thomas Jefferson (2006). “The Quotable Jefferson”

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• This is a Budget for Britain's future to secure fairness for each child and invest in every child

  Gordon Brown

  Children, Fairness, Secure

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• If the new Universal History were also read, it would give a connected idea of human affairs, so far as it goes, which should be followed by the best modern histories, particularly of our mother country; then of these colonies; which should be accompanied with observations on their rise, increase, use to Great Britain, encouragements and discouragements, the means to make them flourish, and secure their liberties.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Education, Country, Mother

  Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks (1844). “The Life of Benjamin Franklin: Containing the Autobiography, with Notes and a Continuation”, p.574

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• We are really doing our very best. There are no doubt many mistakes and shortcomings. A lot of things are done none too well. Some things that ought to be done have not yet been done...[But Britain's effort has] justly commanded the wonder and admiration of every friendly nation in the world.

  Winston Churchill

  War, Mistake, Effort

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• ...the discovery, that at no time did this man (Hitler) pose or intend a real threat to Britain or the Empire.

  David Irving

  Real, War, Men

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• By the time I had finished my coffee and returned to the streets, the rain had temporarily abated, but the streets were full of vast puddles where the drains where unable to cope with the volume of water. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you would think that if one nation ought by now to have mastered the science of drainage, Britain would be it.

  Bill Bryson

  Rain, Coffee, Thinking

  Bill Bryson (2010). “Notes From A Small Island: Journey Through Britain”, p.279, Random House

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• Bargaining is a repulsive habit; compromise is one of the highest human virtues - the difference between the two being that the first is practised on the Continent, the latter in Great Britain.

  George Mikes

  Funny, Humorous, Two

  George Mikes (1986). “How to be a Brit: The Classic Bestselling Guide”, p.50, Penguin UK

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• We should be working towards a carbon-neutral Britain by 2050. We should be working towards the elimination of petrol-driven motor cars, we should be really radical in what we do - the urgency of the problem is really enormous

  Menzies Campbell

  Car, Problem, Driven

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• Britain has squandered its windfall of natural resources from North Sea oil and gas. Instead of prudently investing the 'unearned income' from nature, to build a safe, clean and green energy supply for the nation, we face unnecessary shortages. But there is still a chance to put the proceeds from liquidating our fossil fuel assets to better and more appropriate use. Instead of oil companies profiteering from climate change and oil depletion, a windfall tax could establish an Oil Legacy Fund to pay for Britain's urgent transition to a sustainable, decentralised energy system

  Andrew Simms

  Oil, Sea, Pay

  "Fund clean energy with oil tax" by Terry Macalister, www.theguardian.com. October 22, 2006.

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• I shall endeavor to marshal British opinion against a course of action which would bring in my opinion the greatest evils upon the people of India, upon the people of Great Britain and upon the British Empire itself.

  Winston Churchill

  People, Evil, India

  Winston Churchill, Robert Rhodes James (1980). “Churchill speaks: Winston S. Churchill in peace and war : collected speeches, 1897-1963”, Atheneum

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• In Britain, an attractive woman is somehow suspect. If there is talent as well, it is overshadowed. Beauty and brains just can't be entertained; someone has been too extravagant. This does not happen in America or on the Continent, for the looks of a woman are considered a positive advertisement for her gifts and don't detract from them.

  Vivien Leigh

  America, Brain, Doe

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• Something is happening to Britain and the British. Or has happened. We are said to be passing through a transition, or a turning point, or a transformation; nobody is quite sure which.

  Ferdinand Mount

  Transition, Transformation, British

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• It took Britain half the resources of the planet to achieve its prosperity; how many planets will a country like India require?

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Country, Environmental, India

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• Old man, 40 years old against young hungry man from Great Britain!

  Vitali Klitschko

  Motivation, Men, Years

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• I'll wear no convicts uniform nor meekly serve my time that Britain might brand Irelands fight 800 years of crime.

  Bobby Sands

  Fighting, Years, Might

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• I don't want to pay good money to hear ordinary people's lunatic views. Most of the people who phone in are [lunatics] - certainly in Britain.

  John Gimlette

  Phones, Views, People

  Source: www.identitytheory.com

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• Radio is very popular [in Britain], but it doesn't connect us in the same way. It seems to have this community function.

  John Gimlette

  Community, Radio, Way

  Source: www.identitytheory.com

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• There are 60 million of us [britains] crammed into an area the size of a state. So you don't have that feeling of remoteness at all, ever. And that's reflected in the way our media works, and so on.

  John Gimlette

  Media, Feelings, Way

  Source: www.identitytheory.com

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• By 18th century standards, they [Great Britain] were the freest, most dynamic, most willing to challenge tradition and authority. They had the highest wages and highest living standard, and probably the most engagement between the populace and the government of any country. Then the United States took those same qualities to the nth degree, and the British were suddenly appeared stodgy and tradition-bound.

  Charles R. Morris

  Country, Government, Challenges

  Source: bobmorris.biz

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• No specific technology. My guess is that it was the instinct always to go to maximum scale. Great Britain kept much more of a small shop mindset well into the twentieth century, for instance.

  Charles R. Morris

  Technology, Mindset, Instinct

  Interview with Bob Morris, bobmorris.biz. December 17, 2012.

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• I only do children's films now! I think when you go to LA some people feel you've defected a little bit and that's not really the case. Ideally, I would love to work here and to work in America. That's in an ideal world. In fact, I came back to Britain recently to do an ITV1 drama that will be out in April for a couple of months! But I'm flying back to LA to do a pilot season. So, to work in both places is great.

  Ashley Jensen

  Children, Couple, Drama

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

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• Honestly, I was just happy to get the work. I was chuffed to bits. I know David Furnish and Elton John a bit and I remember David talking very excitedly about it. This was going back four or five years even, when we were doing Little Britain at the Hammersmith Apollo. I'd lost my voice that night, but still did the show. I remember thinking: "God, they're going to think that's my voice and I'm not going to get in the film!" But it's just been a pleasure to be a part of.

  Matt Lucas

  Thinking, Night, Voice

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

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