10 quotes about Britain and the British
Britain’s long history and brilliant people are what makes the country great. Here we round up 10 quotes that sum up the nation.
1 The maxim of the British people is “Business as usual.” Winston Churchill
2 We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language. – Oscar Wilde
3 The English are not a very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity. – George Bernard Shaw
4 If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. – Rupert Brooke, The Soldier
5 When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. – Samuel Johnson
6 I think it has something to do with being British. We don’t take ourselves as seriously as other countries do. – Joan Collins
7 Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. – Robert Burns, My Heart’s In The Highlands
8 The English certainly and fiercely pride themselves in never praising themselves. – Wyndham Lewis
9 “The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn’t been here twelve hours and already they loved me.” – Bill Bryson
10 This royal throne of kings, this sceptred 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, Richard II
