England Quotes

• So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.

  Robert Mugabe

  Zimbabwe, Blair, Let Me

  "Hands off Zimbabwe, Mugabe tells Blair", www.theguardian.com. September 2, 2002.

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• And what should they know of England who only England know?

  Rudyard Kipling

  Should, Knows

  "The English Flag" st. 1 (1892)

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• A family with the wrong members in control; that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.

  George Orwell

  Family, Insulting, Phrases

  The Lion and the Unicorn (1941) pt. 1 "England Your England"

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• Set in this stormy Northern sea, Queen of these restless fields of tide, England! what shall men say of thee, Before whose feet the worlds divide?

  Oscar Wilde

  Queens, Men, Sea

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Poems and poems in prose”, p.136, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• If I could create an ideal world, it would be an England with the fire of the Elizabethans, the correct taste of the Georgians, and the refinement and pure ideals of the Victorians.

  H. P. Lovecraft

  Fire, Would Be, World

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• There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England.

  Winston Churchill

  Mean, Saint George, Forgotten

  Sir Winston Churchill, Jack Fishman (1974). “If I lived my life again”, W.H. Allen

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• This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

  William Shakespeare

  Blessed, Precious Stones, Paradise On Earth

  1595 John of Gaunt. Richard II, act 2, sc.1, l.40-50.

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• Those comfortably padded lunatic asylums which are known, euphemistically, as the stately homes of England.

  Virginia Woolf

  Women, Home, House

  The Common Reader "Lady Dorothy Nevill" (1925) See Crisp 2; Hemans 3

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• England is a nation of shopkeepers.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Business, Insulting, Shopkeepers

  Quoted in Barry E. O'Meara, Napoleon in Exile (1822). The Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 Aug. 1794, prints "Barrere's Report of the Naval Action of the 1st of June" to the National Convention of France, 16 June. Included in this report is the sentence: "Let Pitt then boast of this victory of his nation of shop-keepers (national boutiquiere.)" The author was revolutionary and legislator Bertrand Barrere. See Adam Smith 7; Josiah Tucker 1

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• On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.

  George Mikes

  Food, People, Cooking

  How to Be an Alien (1946)

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• This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,--This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Wall, War

  'Richard II' (1595) act 2, sc. 1, l. 40

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• Be England what she will, With all her faults she is my country still.

  Charles Churchill

  Country, Faults, Stills

  The Farewell l. 27 (1764)

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• Without one friend, above all foes, Britannia gives the world repose.

  William Cowper

  Giving, World, Foe

  William Cowper (1855). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper: With Life, and Critical Notice of His Writings. Eight Engravings on Steel”, p.370

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• In spite of their hats being very ugly, Goddam! I love the English.

  Bertrand Barere

  Ugly, Hats, Spite

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• We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Shopkeepers, Nations

  Benjamin Disraeli (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Benjamin Disraeli (Illustrated)”, p.611, Delphi Classics

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• Where are the rough brave Britons to be found With Hearts of Oak, so much of old renowned?

  Bill Vaughan

  Heart, Brave, Found

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• We don't bother much about dress and manners in England, because as a nation we don't dress well and we've no manners.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Dresses, Manners, Etiquette

  You Never Can Tell (1898) act 1

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• Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

  Arnold Schwarzenegger

  Inspirational, Motivational, Strength

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• This England never did, nor never shall,
  Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.

  William Shakespeare

  Lying, Memorable, Feet

  'King John' (1591-8) act 5, sc. 7, l. 112

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• England, with all thy faults I love thee still, My country!

  William Cowper

  Love, Country, Faults

  The Task bk. 2 "The Timepiece" l. 206 (1785) See Charles Churchill 1

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• You never find an Englishman among the under-dogs except in England, of course.

  Evelyn Waugh

  Dog, Literature, Englishmen

  'The Loved One' (1948) ch. 1

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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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• Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone,
  But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown.

  Rudyard Kipling

  Sea, Tree, Littles

  Rudyard Kipling (2012). “Gunga Din and Other Favorite Poems”, p.17, Courier Corporation

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• Not only England, but every Englishman is an island.

  Novalis

  Islands, Englishmen

  "Fragments". Book by Novalis, 1799.

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• I will not cease from mental fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.

  William Blake

  Sleep, Fighting, Hands

  'Milton' (1804-10) Preface 'And did those feet in ancient time'

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