Best Britain Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 21

“We are really doing our very best. There are no doubt many mistakes and shortcomings. A lot of things are done none too well. Some things that ought to be done have not yet been done...[But Britain's effort has] justly commanded the wonder and admiration of every friendly nation in the world.”

Author:David Irving

“Countries like ours are full of people who have all of the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it. . . it aches!”

“By the time I had finished my coffee and returned to the streets, the rain had temporarily abated, but the streets were full of vast puddles where the drains where unable to cope with the volume of water. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you would think that if one nation ought by now to have mastered the science of drainage, Britain would be it.”

Ifs Thinking Would Be Nations Water Streets Ought Rain Finished Coffee Britain Volume Drains Puddles Drainage

Book:Notes From A Small Island: Journey Through Britain

Source: Notes From A Small Island: Journey Through Britain

“Bargaining is a repulsive habit; compromise is one of the highest human virtues - the difference between the two being that the first is practised on the Continent, the latter in Great Britain.”

Firsts Humans Two Funny Differences Virtue Habit Highest Humorous Compromise Britain Latter Continents Negotiation Great Britain Bargaining

Book:How to be a Brit: The Classic Bestselling Guide

Source: How to be a Brit: The Classic Bestselling Guide

“We should be working towards a carbon-neutral Britain by 2050. We should be working towards the elimination of petrol-driven motor cars, we should be really radical in what we do - the urgency of the problem is really enormous”

Should Problem Car Driven Enormous Radical Britain Carbon Motor Urgency Elimination Petrol Motor Cars

Author:Menzies Campbell

“Britain has squandered its windfall of natural resources from North Sea oil and gas. Instead of prudently investing the 'unearned income' from nature, to build a safe, clean and green energy supply for the nation, we face unnecessary shortages. But there is still a chance to put the proceeds from liquidating our fossil fuel assets to better and more appropriate use. Instead of oil companies profiteering from climate change and oil depletion, a windfall tax could establish an Oil Legacy Fund to pay for Britain's urgent transition to a sustainable, decentralised energy system”

“I think I owe it to myself and my fans in Britain to play one more Wimbledon.”

Thinking Play Fans Britain Stewardship Wimbledon

Author:Goran Ivanisevic

“I shall endeavor to marshal British opinion against a course of action which would bring in my opinion the greatest evils upon the people of India, upon the people of Great Britain and upon the British Empire itself.”

People Action Courses Evil Opinion India British Britain Empires Endeavor Great Britain British Empire

Book:Churchill speaks: Winston S. Churchill in peace and war : collected speeches, 1897-1963

Source: Churchill speaks: Winston S. Churchill in peace and war : collected speeches, 1897-1963

“In Britain, an attractive woman is somehow suspect. If there is talent as well, it is overshadowed. Beauty and brains just can't be entertained; someone has been too extravagant. This does not happen in America or on the Continent, for the looks of a woman are considered a positive advertisement for her gifts and don't detract from them.”

Ifs Wells Looks Doe Has Beens Happens America Brain Talent Attractive Britain Suspects Continents Advertisements Extravagant Attractive Woman Beauty And Brains

Author:Vivien Leigh

“Britain's great strength is its innovative, design and engineering natural ability and we're not using it.”

Natural Ability Design Britain Engineering Innovative Natural Ability

Author:James Dyson

“Something is happening to Britain and the British. Or has happened. We are said to be passing through a transition, or a turning point, or a transformation; nobody is quite sure which.”

Said Happened Happenings Transformation British Passing Passings Britain Transition Turning Points Passing Through

Author:Ferdinand Mount

“Essentially we need a new social consensus for economic reform as New Labour has achieved in Britain.”

Needs Social Economic Reform Britain Labour Consensus Reformation Economic Reforms

Author:Peter Mandelson

“It took Britain half the resources of the planet to achieve its prosperity; how many planets will a country like India require?”

Country Half Achieve Planets Resources India Environmental Prosperity Britain

Author:Mahatma Gandhi

“Old man, 40 years old against young hungry man from Great Britain!”

Men Years Young Motivation Hungry Fighter Britain Old Man Great Britain Hungry Man

Author:Vitali Klitschko

“I'll wear no convicts uniform nor meekly serve my time that Britain might brand Irelands fight 800 years of crime.”

Years Might Fighting Crime Republican Brands My Time Britain Ireland Uniforms Convicts

Author:Bobby Sands

“The political health of Britain has deteriorated very sharply. The Conservative Party must do something about it. I am the man to do it.”

Men Political Party He Man Conservative Britain Aggravation Conservative Party

Author:Kenneth Clarke

“In Britain, by contrast, we still think that class plays a part in determining a person's life chances, so we're less inclined to celebrate success and less inclined to condemn failure. The upshot is that it's much easier to be a failure in Britain than it is in America.”

Thinking Persons Stills Play America Chance Class Easier Celebrate Britain Contrast Celebrate Success

Author:Toby Young

“It is a cliche these days to observe that the United States now possesses a global empire - different from Britain's and Rome's but an empire nonetheless.”

Different States America United United States These Days Britain Empires Rome Cliche

Author:Robert D. Kaplan

“Destroy or take away the employment and wages of those artisans - which the corn laws in a great measure do - and you will, ere long, render the land in Great Britain of as little value as it is in other countries.”

Littles Long Country Law Values Land Employment Britain Other Countries Wages Corn Corny Great Britain Artisans

Author:Joseph Hume

“The advantage to Great Britain of a regular free trade in corn would, therefore, be more by raising the rest of the world to our standard and price, than by lowering the prices here to the standard of the Continent.”

World Standards Advantage Trade Britain Continents Corn Corny Great Britain Free Trade

Author:Joseph Hume

“When I was a child in the 1940s and early 1950s, my parents and grandparents spoke of Britain as home, and New Zealand had this strong sense of identity and coherence as being part of the commonwealth and a the identity of its people as being British.”

People Children Home Strong Parent Identity British Britain Spokes Grandparent New Zealand Commonwealth Coherence Parents And Grandparents New Home

Author:Michael King

“William Wilberforce...w as a great man who impacted the Western world as few others have done. Blessed with brains, charm, influence and initiative, much wealth ... he put evangelism on Britain's map as a power for social change, first by overthrowing the slave trade almost single-handed and then by generating a stream of societies for doing good and reducing evil in public life... To forget such men is foolish.”

“I own a home in Sweden, I rent in both Los Angeles and in Britain, and I'm constantly travelling.”

Home Britain Los Angeles Sweden

Author:Britt Ekland

“I'm not sure it pays to do anything remotely public in Britain. It's such a spiteful society. People seem to enjoy making your life hard for the sake of it.”

People Hard Seems Enjoy Pay Sake Not Sure Britain Life Is Hard Hard Life Spiteful

Author:Andrew Eldritch

“I eat like a horse - my mother still brings me Cadbury's chocolate from Britain; I do have a very healthy appetite - but I work out.”

Stills Mother Healthy Horse Work Out Britain Chocolate Appetite Cadbury

Author:Catherine Zeta-Jones

“I became an actor by doing school plays and youth theaters, and then National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. And then I did study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. For me that was a good way to enter the field, to work in the theater.”

Way Art Play School Actors Study Fields Youth Theater London Theatre Dramatic Britain Academy Good Way Great Britain School Plays Youth Theatre

Author:Chiwetel Ejiofor

“If you grow up in Britain, you just do Shakespeare. If you go and work in a theater once or twice or three times in your life, you're going to end up doing a Shakespeare, because he's obviously such a brilliant, brilliant writer.”

Ifs Ends Three Grows Growing Up Theater Brilliant Britain Three Times

Author:Timothy Dalton

“It can be difficult to be subtle and not cartoony in prosthetics. But when you see characters like Bubbles and Desiree from 'Little Britain' on screen, it makes all the hard work worth it. It's such fun watching those transformations.”

Littles Hard Character Fun Difficult Hard Work Transformation Screens Britain Subtle Bubbles Worth It Prosthetics Little Britain

Author:David Walliams

“I've done panel shows, which I enjoy, and on those you're recording half-an-hour of TV and sometimes they film for two hours. But with 'Britain's Got Talent,' you're on camera for eight hours, with a large theatre audience watching - and in between you're being filmed for ITV2 as you eat your lunch.”

Two Sometimes Done Shows Film Enjoy Hours Half Audience Talent Tvs Cameras Eight Theatre Britain Lunch

Author:David Walliams

“I think until Britain acknowledges just how much of a presence black people had here before the Sixties, then there are certain stories that are not going to be inclusive of what I have to offer.”

People Thinking Stories Certain Black Offers Acknowledge Britain Black People Sixty

Author:David Oyelowo

“I went back in British history. Some 204 people died there after a mine collapsed in 1838. In 1866, 361 miners died in Britain. In an explosion in 1894, 290 people died there.”

People Mines Died British Britain Usual Offensive Explosions British History Miners

Author:Recep Tayyip Erdogan

“In Great Britain, governments often change their policies without changing their men. In France, they usually change their men without changing their policy.”

Men Government Politics Policy France Britain Great Britain

Book:The Irrepressible Churchill: Stories, Sayings and Impressions of Sir Winston Churchill

Source: The Irrepressible Churchill: Stories, Sayings and Impressions of Sir Winston Churchill

“Europe is my continent, not my country”

Country Europe Britain Continents

Book:Just Say No!: 100 Arguments Against the Euro

Source: Just Say No!: 100 Arguments Against the Euro

“We have many times led Europe in the fight for freedom. It would be an ignoble end to our long history if we tamely accepted to perish by degrees.”

Ifs Long Ends Would Be Fighting Degrees Europe Accepted Britain Ignoble Fighting For Freedom

Book:The Eden-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1955-1957

Source: The Eden-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1955-1957

“Whether we like it or not we are consideably bound to Europe.”

Europe Bounds Britain

Author:Stanley Baldwin

“They seem to have moved from total opposition to total subservience.”

Seems Europe Moved Britain Opposition Subservience

Author:John Major

“It does mean, if this is the idea, the end of Britain as an independent European state...it means the end of a thousand years of history.”

Ifs Years Mean Doe Ideas Ends States Thousand Europe Independent Britain Thousand Years

Author:Hugh Gaitskell

“If Britain becomes a member of the Community, it will be healthier for Britain, advantageous for Europe, and a gain for the whole world. I do not know of many economic or political problems in the world which will be easier to solve if Britain is outside rather than inside the Community.”

Ifs Knows World Whole Problem Political Community Economic Easier Members Gains Europe Solve Whole World Britain

Author:James Callaghan

“It has been suggested by some people in this country that I and my government will be a "soft touch" in the [European] Community. In case such a rumour may have reached your ears, Mr Chancellor... it is only fair that I should advise you frankly to dismiss it (as my own colleagues did, long ago). We shall judge what British interests are and we shall be resolute in defending them.”

People May Long Has Beens Country Government Interest Community Cases Judging Europe Fairs Ears British Britain Long Ago Colleagues Advise Resolute Rumours

Author:Margaret Thatcher

“I believe we should continue to have a partnership of national states each retaining the right to protect its vital interests, but developing more effectively than at present the habit of working together.”

Should Believe States Together I Believe Interest Habit Protect Europe Developing Britain Working Together Partnership Retaining

Book:As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“I was turned out because I said to Europe no, no, no. That no, no , no has now turned into yes, yes. Two yes's not three because he got the Social Chapter out and he's reserved his position on the single currency.”

Said Two Three Social Position Europe Britain Chapters Currency Reserved

Book:As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“We weren't getting a fair deal on the budget and I wasn't going to have it. There's a great strand of equity and fairness in the British people - this is our characteristic. There's not a strand of equity and fairness in Europe - they're out to get as much as they can. That's one of those enormous differences. So I tackled it on that basis.”

People Differences Deals Europe Fairs Bases British Enormous Budgets Characteristics Britain Fairness Equity Strands

Author:Margaret Thatcher

“When will Labour learn that you cannot build Jerusalem in Brussels.”

Europe Britain Labour Jerusalem Brussels

Book:As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“Yes, the Commission wants to increase its powers, Yes, it is a non-elected body and I do not want the Commission to increase its powers at the expense of the House, so of course we differ. The President of the Commission, Mr Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community. He wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No! No! No!”

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“I must be absolutely clear about this. Britain cannot accept the present situation on the Budget. It is demonstrably unjust. It is politically indefensible: I cannot play Sister Bountiful to the Community while my own electorate are being asked to forego improvements in the fields of health, education, welfare and the rest.”

Play Community My Own Situation Accepting Clear Fields Europe Improvement Budgets Welfare Britain Unjust Electorate Present Situation Health Education

Author:Margaret Thatcher

“I think our support for the EEC has been very half-hearted. You really cannot join any group of nations and spend all your time criticising it. The EEC is free Europe getting together. Had we had some vision like that after the first world war , we might never had the second ... my son does not have to go and fight as his father had to fight. Surely that is the most valuable thing of all, the reason for keeping Europe together.”

“I can cope with nine of them, so they ought to be able to stand one of me. They could end the tiresomeness and stubbornness by giving me what I want.”

Want Giving I Can Ends Able Ought Europe Nine Britain Stubbornness

Book:As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“I have the money and they won't get their hands on it.”

Hands Europe Britain

Book:As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

Source: As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations

“Any attempts by any government to change Community legislation to its own wishes are doomed to failure following the extension of policy areas now subject to majority voting... In our opinion, this must have serious implications for the traditional view of Parliament as a legislative body sovereignty.”

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Britain Quotes