Britain Quotes - Page 19

• And the danger is - and it's happening - is we're seeing an incredibly big rise amongst young gay people, young heterosexual people as far as catching HIV, which is, you know, in an educated country like this or in Britain, it's frightening.

  Elton John

  Country, Gay, People

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• In England we burnt redheads at the stake, because we thought they were witches. There are still young redheads in Britain getting ripped for having red hair. 'Oy, Ginger!'

  Damian Lewis

  Hair, England, Red

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• You lose power in Britain and you are just Joe Public again.

  Ken Livingstone

  Loses

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• Britain's an island; it's always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration - it makes it a better place.

  John Lydon

  Islands, Ebb And Flow, Immigration

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• If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement.

  Iain Duncan Smith

  Retirement, Hard Work, People

  "Politics live blog" by Andrew Sparrow, www.theguardian.com. June 24, 2010.

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• We have to ensure that our immigration system works in the interests of Britain, enabling us to make a realistic promise to our young school-leavers. It is part of our contract with the British people.

  Iain Duncan Smith

  School, People, Promise

  "Iain Duncan Smith appeals to businesses to employ young Britons" by Adam Gabbatt, www.theguardian.com. July 1, 2011.

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• Herbert, my father, was born in Britain but went out to Africa in his teens to join his father and built up an 18,000-acre ranch in what was then Northern Rhodesia, providing work for the locals. He was my hero when I was a boy.

  Wilbur Smith

  Father, Hero, Boys

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• Since the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland wants to remain a part of Great Britain, and since Ireland itself has shown little interest in reunification, the IRA's prospects for success through political channels have always been limited.

  James Surowiecki

  Political, Majority, Ira

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• If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Country, Strong, Taken

  "The secret of outstanding leadership" by Lisa Bachelor, www.theguardian.com. January 15, 2010.

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• Literary life used to be quite different in Britain in the years I lived there, from 1971 to 1989, because money was not a factor - no one made very much except from U.S. sales and the occasional windfall.

  Paul Theroux

  Years, Different, Used

  "Fiction in the Age of E-Books". "The Atlantic" Interview, www.theatlantic.com. 2010.

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• I feel the art world in New York has a stronger following than Britain. If you go to a New York art district on a Saturday morning, it will be so busy with families and openings - art is much more ingrained in the culture.

  Sam Taylor-Wood

  Art, Morning, New York

  "When Sam Taylor-Wood met Yoko Ono". Interview With Kate Kellaway, www.theguardian.com. June 16, 2012.

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• Class still matters in Britain today.

  Johnny Vegas

  Class, Matter, Today

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• I believe that Britain is becoming more class-conscious, and I quake at the very idea of Old Etonians ruling the world again.

  Johnny Vegas

  Believe, Class, Ideas

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• The honorable William Penn, late governor of Pennsylvania, was chosen agent to the Court of Britain, and directed to deliver the petition to the King himself and to endeavor by his personal influence to procure a favorable reception to this last address.

  Mercy Otis Warren

  Kings, Pennsylvania, Agents

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• People in Britain always think of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as a musical - it wasn't.

  Andrew Lloyd Webber

  Jesus, Thinking, People

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• Here's the truth. The proposed top rate of income tax is not 50 per cent. It is 50 per cent plus 1.5 per cent national insurance paid by employees plus 13.3 per cent paid by employers. That's not 50 per cent. Two years from now, Britain will have the highest tax rate on earned income of any developed country.

  Andrew Lloyd Webber

  Country, Truth, Years

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• With a diplomat father, for whom foreign postings were a fact of life, my siblings and I were expected to attend boarding schools in Britain.

  Arabella Weir

  Father, Sibling, School

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• Both in Britain and America, huge publicity has been given to stem cells, particularly embryonic stem cells, and the potential they offer. Of course, the study of stem cells is one of the most exciting areas in biology, but I think it is unlikely that embryonic stem cells are likely to be useful in healthcare for a long time.

  Robert Winston

  Thinking, Cells, Britain And America

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• The Government have consistently made it clear that the mechanism in the United Kingdom whereby the European draft constitutional treaty could be implemented is approval by the House of Commons followed by a referendum of the people of Britain. There is no question of implementing it by the back door.

  Douglas Alexander

  Doors, Government, People

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• Women's sexy underwear is a minor but significant growth industry of late-twentieth-century Britain in the twilight of capitalism.

  Angela Carter

  Sexy, Fashion, Women

  Angela Carter (1998). “Shaking a Leg: Collected Writings”, Penguin Group USA

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• The government of the world I live in was not framed, like that of Britain, in after-dinner conversations over the wine.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Wine, Government, World

  'Walden' (1854) 'Economy' conclusion

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• My point is that this Potter business has legs. It will run and run, and we must be utterly mad, as a country, to leave it to the Americans to make money from a great British invention. I appeal to the children of this country and to their Potter-fiend parents to write to Warner Bros and Universal, and perhaps, even, to the great J K herself. Bring Harry home to Britain-and if you want a site with less rainfall than Rome, with excellent public transport, and strong connections to Harry Potter, I have just the place.

  Boris Johnson

  Running, Country, Strong

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• I couldn't speak Japanese very well, passport regulations were changing, I felt British and my future was in Britain. And it would also make me eligible for literary awards. But I still think I'm regarded as one of their own in Japan.

  Kazuo Ishiguro

  Thinking, Awards, Japan

  "Living memories" by Nicholas Wroe, www.theguardian.com. February 18, 2005.

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• British rule depends upon repression and collaboration and the Irish people should recognise that those who collaborate with Britain in exchange for a slice of the cake will implement British policy and remain silent when Irish people are murdered and oppressed. It is they who are responsible for prolonging the war in Ireland. Without the quislings, without the collaborators, we would already have reached freedom.

  Martin McGuinness

  War, Cake, People

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• Generations will continue to meet the same fate unless the perennial oppressor-Britain-is removed, for she will unashamedly and mercilessly continue to maintain her occupation and economic exploitation of Ireland to judgment day, if she is not halted and ejected.

  Bobby Sands

  Fate, Generations, Occupation

  Bobby Sands (1997). “Bobby Sands: Writings from Prison”, Roberts Rinehart Publishers

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