British Quotes

• There is no cannibalism in the British Navy, absolutely none. And when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than I personally admit.

  Graham Chapman

  Mean, British Navy, Cannibalism

  "Character: Sir John Cunningham". "Monty Python's Flying Circus", TV Series (1969–1974), "The War Against Pornography", www.imdb.com. 1972.

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• [Robinson Crusoe] is the true prototype of the British colonist. The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence, the unconscious cruelty, the persistence, the slow yet efficient intelligence, the sexual apathy, the calculating taciturnity.

  James Joyce

  Persistence, Independence, Apathy

  "Daniel Defoe". Book by James Joyce, translated from Italian manuscript and edited by Joseph Prescott, pp. 24-25, 1964.

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• No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision.

  Barbara Tuchman

  Government, Decision, Faces

  The Guns of August ch. 9 (1962)

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• I gave my parole once, and it has been shamefully violated by the British Government; I shall not give another to people on whom no faith can be reposed.

  Christopher Gadsden

  Government, People, Giving

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• I really wouldn't want to live in America. I found New York claustrophobic and dirty. I missed England when I was there, simple things like smells and the British sense of humor.

  Jonny Lee Miller

  New York, Dirty, Humor

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• We embrace policies that have, first and foremost, the continued survival of the British people at their core, and in that respect I think we are beyond left and right.

  Steve Blake

  Thinking, People, Survival

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• The British are special. The world knows it. In our innermost thoughts we know it. This is the greatest nation on earth.

  Tony Blair

  Special, World, Earth

  "Full text of Tony Blair's resignation speech". Times Online, May 10, 2007.

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• The French and the British are such good enemies that they can't resist being friends.

  Peter Ustinov

  Enemy, Good Enemy

  Peter Ustinov (1969). “The wit of Peter Ustinov”

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• I'm embarrassed when I see Brits abroad; they have their tops off, wear flip flops, and shout at the top of their voices.

  Noel Gallagher

  Voice, People, Musician

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• For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms.

  Gerry Adams

  Government, Years, Ira

  Gerry Adams' Speech to IRA in Belfast, news.bbc.co.uk. April 6, 2005.

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• I am very proud to be British. I'm very conscious of carrying my country with me wherever I go. I feel I need to represent it well.

  Julie Andrews

  Country, Needs, Proud

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• I think it's sort of a rite of passage for a British actor to try and get the American accent and have a good crack at doing that.

  Orlando Bloom

  Thinking, Trying, Cracks

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• So I rang up British Telecom, I said 'I want to report a nuisance caller', he said 'Not you again'.

  Frank Carson

  Funny, Humor, Nuisance

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• I could have closed down bits of British Home Stores to make more money but it's not my style. I want to make my money as a retailer, not by putting people out of work.

  Philip Green

  Business, Home, Commitment

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• All British people have plain names, and that works pretty well over there.

  Paris Hilton

  Names, People, Heiress

  Paris Hilton (2012). “Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-In-Chic Peek Behind the Pose”, p.11, Simon and Schuster

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• I have no interest in Shakespeare and all that British nonsense... I just wanted to get famous and all the rest is hogwash.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Hogwash, Sentimental, Nonsense

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• The coast of British Columbia was one of the three chief centers of aboriginal America.

  Ellsworth Huntington

  America, Three, Coast

  Ellsworth Huntington (2016). “A Chronicle of Aboriginal America: Juvenile History - - American”, p.56, VM eBooks

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• No, men and women of the Irish race, we shall not fight for England. We shall fight for the destruction of the British Empire and the construction of an Irish republic.

  James Larkin

  Fighting, Men, Race

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• I was never too keen on the British music press. They've called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn't write our own songs.

  Freddie Mercury

  Song, Writing, Hype

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• Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans are not British in sensibility.

  Wallace Stevens

  Literature, Inappropriate, Source

  Wallace Stevens (2011). “Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose”, p.256, Vintage

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• Although the Chinese had used opium as a medicine, there was no widespread addiction before the British arrived.

  Robert Trout

  Medicine, Addiction, Chinese

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• My influences were Peter Sellers and the great British character actors.

  Tracey Ullman

  Character, Actors, Influence

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• It could be my British need for discipline that makes me admire the American appetite for freedom and passion.

  Steve Winwood

  Music, Passion, Discipline

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• When the British Open is in Scotland, there's something special about it. And when it's at St. Andrews, it's even greater.

  Jack Nicklaus

  Golf, Scotland, Special

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• The maxim of the British people is 'business as usual.'

  Winston Churchill

  Business, People, Usual

  "Churchill v Toynbee" by Patrick Barkham, www.theguardian.com. November 23, 2006.

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