British Quotes

• We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Ridiculous, Morality, Fit

  "On Moore's Life of Lord Byron" by Thomas B. Macaulay, 1830.

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• It had always been a British preoccupation to hold this mile record.

  Roger Bannister

  Athlete, Records, Preoccupation

  "What It Takes" with Alice Winkler, learningenglish.voanews.com. February 23, 2018.

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• The truth is that neither British nor American imperialism was or is idealistic. It has always been driven by economic or strategic interests.

  Charley Reese

  Peace, War, Truth Is

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• If there is to be any hope of prosperity for this country it is by reversing that policy which made us simply the kitchen garden for supplying the British with cheap food.

  Eamon de Valera

  Country, Garden, Kitchen

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• The most conservative man in this world is the British trade unionist when you want to change him.

  Ernest Bevin

  Change, Men, Political

  Speech, 8 Sept. 1927, in Report of Proceedings of the Trades Union Congress (1927) p. 298

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• I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts.

  Harold MacMillan

  Government, Two, Determined

  Comment on the Profumo affair, July 1963, in Anthony Sampson 'Macmillan' (1967) p. 243

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• There is not a single injustice in Northern Ireland that is worth the loss of a single British soldier or a single Irish citizen either.

  James Callaghan

  Loss, British Soldiers, Citizens

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• I have done my time living on the run. I'm British and I want to come home.

  Gary Glitter

  Running, Home, Done

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• Sitting down to a meal with an Indian family is different from sitting down to a meal with a British family.

  Roland Joffe

  Food, Sitting Down, Meals

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• I am the only British writer who writes in Spanish

  Guillermo Cabrera Infante

  Writing, Literature

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• A British pressing with a compilation of the best stuff really, I mean actually not only that but, these were all kind of semi hits for the people on it in America.

  Eric Clapton

  Mean, America, People

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• The British electors will not vote for a man who does not wear a hat.

  Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook

  Hate, Men, Political

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• In 1973 we moved to the British Isle of Man, and I put my first band together for one year, named Melody Fair.

  Andy Gibb

  Men, Years, Together

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• I think the British have the distinction above all other nations of being able to put new wine into old bottles without bursting them.

  Clement Attlee

  Wine, Thinking, Bottles

  'Hansard' 24 October 1950, col. 2705

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• The British have always coped without becoming a dictatorship.

  Frederick Forsyth

  Literature, Becoming, Dictatorship

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• Thus I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence, which is a noble thing.

  Winston Churchill

  Ordinary, Essentials, Noble

  My Early Life ch. 2 (1930)

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• I went over before the British Open and played Valderrama thinking that I might make the team, might be a captain's pick. I made the effort to go over there.

  Payne Stewart

  Sports, Team, Thinking

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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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