Englishmen Quotes

• I am not an Englishman, I was never an Englishman, and I don't ever want to be one. I am a Scotsman! I was a Scotsman and I will always be one.

  Sean Connery

  Want, Scotsmen

  89 Copy quote
• 

  The average Hollywood film star's ambition is to be admired by an American, courted by an Italian, married to an Englishman and have a French boyfriend.

  Katharine Hepburn

  Funny, Cute, Movie

  1954 In the Journal American, 22 Feb.

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms never never never!

  William Pitt

  Country, Military, Revolution

  Francis Thackeray, William Pitt (1827). “A history of the Right Honorable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: containing his speeches in Parliament : a considerable portion of his correspondence, when Secretary of State, upon French, Spanish, and American affairs, never before published with an account of the principal events and persons of his time, connected with his life, sentiments and administrations ; (Mit dem Bildnisse Pitts)”, p.327

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• An Englishman teaching an American about food is like the blind leading the one-eyed.

  A. J. Liebling

  Travel, Food, Teaching

  43 Copy quote

• An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before.

  Mark Twain

  Inspiration, Doe, Done

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.7, Courier Corporation

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.

  George Mikes

  Form, Queues, Orderly

  'How to be an Alien' (1946) p. 44

  73 Copy quote

  Show source

• When two Eglishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

  Samuel Johnson

  Weather, Two, Firsts

  "The Idler" by Samuel Johnson, No. 11, June 24, 1758.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you eliminate smoking and gambling, you will be amazed to find that almost all an Englishman's pleasures can be, and mostly are, shared by his dog.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Dog, Silly, Gambling

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

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• An Englishman does everything on principle: he fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Patriotic, Fighting, Insulting

  The Man of Destiny (1898)

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose.

  A. P. Herbert

  Humorous, Purpose, Noble

  1935 Uncommon Law,'Fox-Hunting Fun'.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.

  Cecil Rhodes

  Firsts, Remember, Winning The Lottery

  In Peter Ustinov 'Dear Me' (1977) ch. 4

  198 Copy quote

  Show source

• An Englishman will fairly drink as much As will maintain two families of Dutch.

  Daniel Defoe

  Two, Literature, Dutch

  Daniel Defoe (1788). “The True Born Englishman. A Satire. A New Edition”, p.14

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• You know what the Englishman's idea of compromise is? He says, Some people say there is a God. Some people say there is no God. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two statements.

  William Butler Yeats

  Truth, Lying, Ideas

  7 Copy quote

• It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Hate, Pygmalion, Mouths

  Pygmalion (1916) preface

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The Almighty in His infinite wisdom did not see fit to create Frenchmen in the image of Englishmen.

  Winston Churchill

  Fit, Infinite, Almighty

  Winston Churchill (1952). “War Speeches: From June 25, 1941 to September 6, 1943”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Michael Powell always used to say 'I'm a typical Englishman'. He was and he wasn't. He was very cosmopolitan and spent a lot of time in Europe.

  Thelma Schoonmaker

  Europe, Typical, Used

  Source: www.fluxmagazine.com

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Let us learn from the English rulers the simple fact that the oppressors are blind to the enormity of their own misdeeds.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Simple, Facts, Language

  Gandhi (Mahatma) (1924). “Collected works”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• My two elder sisters married Englishmen and went abroad.

  Bill Forsyth

  Sister, Two, Married

  7 Copy quote

• I married a young Englishman in Cambridge in 1955 and have lived in Britain every since.

  Anne Stevenson

  Married, Young, Britain

  23 Copy quote

• At twelve noon, The natives swoon And no further work is doneBut mad dogs and Englishmen, Go out in the midday sun.

  Noel Coward

  Dog, Mad, Twelve

  'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' (1931 song)

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• A spirit, breathing the language of independence, is natural to Englishmen, few of whom are disposed to brook compulsion, or submit to the dictates of others, when not softened by reason, or tempered with kindness.

  Joseph Lancaster

  Kindness, Breathing, Independence

  Joseph Lancaster (1807). “Improvements in Education, as it Respects the Industrious Classes of the Community: Containing Among Other Important Particulars, an Account of the Institution for the Education of One Thousand Poor Children, Borough Road, Southwark; and of the New System of Education on which it is Conducted”, p.148

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them.

  Julian Fellowes

  Three, Joining, Rooms

  Julian Fellowes (2006). “Snobs: A Novel”, p.21, Macmillan

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• An Irish man fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order of precedence, but will do either to accommodate his customers.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Business, Fighting, Men

  Philip Dormer Stanhope (4th earl of Chesterfield.), Charles Caleb Colton (1861). “Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son on men and manners. To which are added, selections from Colton's 'Lacon'.”, p.188

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I've written so many songs about Englishmen, I have to go elsewhere.

  Ray Davies

  Song, Elsewhere, Written

  7 Copy quote

• Englishmen have always loved Moliere.

  Lytton Strachey

  Lytton Strachey (1965). “Spectatorial Essays”

  8 Copy quote

  Show source