Englishmen Quotes - Page 6

• He was born an Englishman and remained one for years.

  Brendan Behan

  Years, England, Born

  'Hostage' (1958) act 1

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• I have to laugh when the English claim they are such a wonderful nation. Everyone knows that Englishmen are really Germans, that the English kings were German, and that in Russia the emperors were either of German origin or received their education in Germany.

  Hermann Goring

  Kings, Russia, Laughing

  Remark on May 28, 1946. "The Nuremberg Interviews". Book by Leon Goldensohn, 2004.

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• that Englishman who came to challenge me three or four months ago, and whom I killed to stop him bothering me

  Alexandre Dumas

  Challenges, Three, Four

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• And do you know, do you know that mankind can live without the Englishman, it can live without Germany, it can live only too well without the Russian man, it can live without science, without bread, and it only cannot live without beauty, for then there would be nothing at all to do in the world! The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here. Science itself would not stand for a minute without beauty

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Men, Secret, Germany

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• I thinke it not amisse to forewarne you that you thrust as few wordes of many sillables into your verse as may be: and hereunto I might alledge many reasons: first the most auncient English wordes are of one sillable, so that the more monasyllables that you use, the truer Englishman you shall seeme, and the lesse you shall smell of the Inkehorne.

  George Gascoigne

  Smell, Use, May

  George Gascoigne, John W. Cunliffe (2012). “The Complete Works of George Gascoigne: Volume 1, The Posies”, p.468, Cambridge University Press

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• For educated Americans like Joseph Ellis, Vietnam is a special hang-up. I am an Englishman of exactly the Vietnam generation, a couple of years younger than Ellis; indeed, for reasons too complicated to explain here, I was nearly drafted into the US army in 1965. I know many Americans of my own age and, as much to the point, my own class - journalists, publishers, lawyers. And I don't think I know one who served in Vietnam.

  Geoffrey Wheatcroft

  Couple, Army, Thinking

  "Not so macho" by Geoffrey Wheatcroft, www.theguardian.com. June 22, 2001.

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• Why do people speak of great men in terms of nationality? Great Germans, great Englishmen? Goethe always protested against being called a German poet. Great men are simply men and are not to be considered from the point of view of nationality, nor should the environment in which they were brought up be taken into account.

  Albert Einstein

  Taken, Men, Views

  Quoted in N.Y. Times, 18 Apr. 1926

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• When a tiger changes his nature, Englishmen will change theirs.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Tigers

  Mahatma Gandhi, Judith M. Brown (2008). “The Essential Writings”, p.134, Oxford University Press

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• People were intrinsically selfish, and many hated the idea of a woman in charge of the Institute. They would not put themselves at risk for her. Only a few weeks ago he would have said the same thing about himself. Now, knowing Charlotte, he realized to his surprise, the idea of risking himself for her seemed an honor, as it would be to most Englishmen to risk themselves for the queen.

  Cassandra Clare

  Queens, Selfish, Ideas

  Cassandra Clare (2013). “Clockwork Princess”, p.423, Simon and Schuster

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• Formal education in British India was remarkable for its lack of connection with its Indian environment. Like the African persuaded to cover his nakedness with a Mother Hubbard, we wore mental Mother Hubbards, and they were often a sad fit. Our textbooks had been compiled by Englishmen for English children, of whom there were none in my school and few in any school in India.

  Nayantara Sahgal

  Mother, Children, School

  Nayantara Sahgal (1963). “From fear set free”

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• When you play test cricket, you don't give the Englishmen an inch. Play it tough, all the way. Grind them into the dust.

  Donald Bradman

  Sports, Dust, Play

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• Abortion... was probably regarded by the average Roman of the later days of Paganism much as Englishmen in the last century regarded convivial excesses, as certainly wrong, but so venial as scarcely to deserve censure.

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky

  Average, Abortion, Feminist

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1869). “History of European morals: from Augustus to Charlemagne. II”, p.23

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• The third absolute right, inherent in every Englishman, is that of . . . the sacred and inviolable rights of private property.

  William Blackstone

  Rights, Sacred, Thirds

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• I'm sure this Jesus will not do Either for Englishman or Jew.

  William Blake

  Jesus, Judaism, Jew

  'The Everlasting Gospel' (c.1818) (f) l. 1

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• If I were an Englishman, I should esteem the man who advised a war with China to be the greatest living enemy of my country. You would be beaten in the end, and perhaps a revolution in India would follow.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Country, War, Men

  "The Mind of Napoleon" by J. Christopher Herold, (p. 249), 1955.

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• I think my favorite scenes [in Night Music] are the ones that kind of happen when the handsome Englishman shows up.. He doesn't quite figure out she is from the 1920s because he doesn't really figure out she is a ghost, because she has manifested into physical form.

  Boti Bliss

  Night, Thinking, Handsome

  Source: actionflickchick.com

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• The poor silly-clever Irishman takes off his hat to God's Englishman.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Clever, Silly, Hats

  1904 Larry Doyle. John Bull's Other Island, act 1.

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• The nearest approach to the infallible in literary judgment is represented in the colossal work of the teacher of all these three [Edmund Gosse, Edward Dowden and George Saintsbury], the greatest critic that ever lived - not an Englishman, but a Frenchman, the wonderful Sainte-Beuve.

  Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

  Teacher, Three, Wonderful

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• A land may be said to be discovered the first time a European, presumably an Englishman, sets foot on it.

  Vilhjalmur Stefansson

  Land, Feet, May

  Discovery (published 1964).

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• 'English fair play' is a fine expression. It justifies the bashing of the puny draper's assistant by the big hairy blacksmith, and this to the perfect satisfaction of both parties, if they are worthy the name of Englishman.

  Joseph Furphy

  Party, Expression, Play

  Joseph Furphy (2016). “Such is Life”, p.342, Joseph Furphy

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• Englishmen never will be slaves; they are free to do whatever the government and public opinion allow them.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Government, Insulting, Public Opinion

  'Man and Superman' (1903) act 3

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• Englishmen are said to love their laws; - that is the reason, I suppose, they give us so many of them, and in different editions.

  Anna Letitia Barbauld

  Law, Giving, Different

  Anna Letitia Barbauld, Lucy Aikin (1825). “The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld: in two volumes”, p.123

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• Frazer is much more savage than most of his savages, for they are not as far removed from the understanding of spiritual matter as a twentieth-century Englishman. His explanations of primitive practices are much cruder than the meaning of these practices themselves.

  Ludwig Wittgenstein

  Spiritual, Practice, Understanding

  Ludwig Wittgenstein, James Carl Klagge, Alfred Nordmann (1993). “Philosophical Occasions, 1912-1951”, p.131, Hackett Publishing

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• Virtually the entire inflow was therefore Asiatic, and all but three or four thousand of that inflow originated from the Indian subcontinent... It is by 'black Power' that the headlines are caught, and under the shape of the negro that the consequences for Britain of immigration and what is miscalled 'race' are popularly depicted. Yet it is more truly when he looks into the eyes of Asia that the Englishman comes face to face with those who will dispute with him the possession of his native land.

  Enoch Powell

  Eye, Race, Land

  "Still to Decide" by Enoch Powell, Eliot Right Way Books, (p. 209), 1972.

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• When an Englishman has professed his belief in the supremacy of Shakespeare amongst all poets, he feels himself excused from the general study of literature. He also feels himself excused from the particular study of Shakespeare.

  Aubrey Beardsley

  Literature, Belief, Study

  "Under the Hill and Other Essays". Book by Aubrey Beardsley, 1904.

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