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British Empire Quotes

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British Empire Quotes

“I don’t want you to be the reason why he thinks the British are snobbish.”

British British Empire Snobbery Snobbish

Book:At Her Fingertips

Source: At Her Fingertips

“No one doubts that eventually the Matabele will be conquered, and that our flag will wave triumphantly over the remnant of them in the same way it waves triumphantly over the workhouse pauper and the sailors' poor whore in the east end of London. Let it wave on over an empire reaching from north to south, from east to west, wave over every island, hitherto ungrabbed, on every sterile desert and fever-haunted swamp as yet unclaimed, over the sealer amid the icebergs, stripping the fur from the live seal, on purpose to oblige a lady; over the abandoned transport camel, perishing of thirst in the Sudan: and still keep waving over Leicester Square, where music halls at night belch out crowds of stout imperialists.”

Imperialism British Empire Imperialists Music Halls Leicester Square Matabele

Book:The Imperial Kailyard: Being a Biting Satire on English Colonisation

Source: The Imperial Kailyard: Being a Biting Satire on English Colonisation

“Scotland had no need of a 'resistant nationalism' precisely because it was an imperial nation engaged in projecting its national culture to the world. The historical problem of Scotland's 'absent nationalism' in the nineteenth century is a non-problem because far from lacking a nationalism, Scottish nationalism was vigorously engaged on imposing itself wherever Scots had achieved a determining or a significant role within the territory of the British Empire. Scottish nationalism did not need to assert itself within the British state because the 'world was its field', and its aim was to make Scotland the spiritual core of the imperial project.”

Scotland British Empire Scottish Nationalism

Book:The Wealth of the Nation: Scotland, Culture and Independence

Source: The Wealth of the Nation: Scotland, Culture and Independence

“Sirs, if it were not for that one red spot I would have conquered the world!!!”

British Empire Napoleon Boneparte Duke Of Wellington Battle Of Waterloo

Author:Napoléon Bonaparte

“Storm's coming! Huts and homes of the humble will thrive, while castles and palaces of thieves will crumble. Either we are explorers of equality and dignity, or we are crown worshipping animal.”

Democracy Equality Colonialism Monarchy British Empire Decolonization Abolish Monarchy Coronation Buckingham Palace Socialist Revolution

Book:Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

Source: Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“For isn't it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime?”

Imperialism British Empire Caribbean Literature Neocolonialism West Indian

Book:A Small Place

Source: A Small Place

“Though monarchy and royalty are still considered a matter of pride in many uncivilized parts of the world, the day is not far when they'll be deemed a crime.”

Democracy Royalty Monarchy British Empire Democratic Society Democratic Socialism Abolish Monarchy Constitutional Monarchy British Monarchy

Book:Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

Source: Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“Beyond King and Crumpet (Uncoronation Sonnet) There's not one but two UKs - one is United Kingdom, where animals worship a king, another is United Kin-dom, where humans live as kin. Storm's coming! Huts and homes of the humble will thrive, while castles and palaces of thieves will crumble. Either we are explorers of equality and dignity, or we are crown worshipping animal. Putting all kings and queens to bed, Citizens must come out and work the soil. Enough chasing the parade of dead meat, March your own parade, tackling turmoil! Crown, cross and rigid constitution, Mindlessness has taken many a form. Beyond the fetish of king and crumpet, Beckon the rays of an honorable dawn.”

Royalty Monarchy British Empire United Kingdom Royal Family Abolish Monarchy Coronation Constitutional Monarchy British Monarchy Monarchy Of The Uk

Book:Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

Source: Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Putting all kings and queens to bed, Citizens must come out and work the soil. Enough chasing the parade of dead meat, March your own parade, tackling turmoil!”

Royalty Monarchy British Empire United Kingdom Royal Family Abolish Monarchy Coronation Constitutional Monarchy British Monarchy Monarchy Of The Uk

Book:Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

Source: Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“The atomic bomb brings the men home from every quarter of the earth because the war is not so much over as stunned back into history...”

World War Ii Ireland British Empire Ira

Book:The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty

Source: The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty

“People had status as subjects of the colonial empire. Maybe not yet as citizens, with voting-rights, but certainly as subjects who were treated as equals by the institutions and the law. And that was an improvement. That is why the colonial justice system was constipated: people could suddenly go to the judge over a piece of land.”

Colonialism Imperialism British Empire Bruce Gilley Colonial Empire

Author:Bruce Gilley

“It is truth, in the old saying, that is 'the daughter of time,' and the lapse of half a century has not left us many of our illusions. Churchill tried and failed to preserve one empire. He failed to preserve his own empire, but succeeded in aggrandizing two much larger ones. He seems to have used crisis after crisis as an excuse to extend his own power. His petulant refusal to relinquish the leadership was the despair of postwar British Conservatives; in my opinion this refusal had to do with his yearning to accomplish something that 'history' had so far denied him—the winning of a democratic election.”

Truth Time History Power United States Democracy Crisis Russia Britain Cold War Soviet Union Imperialism Elections British Empire American Imperialism Winston Churchill Conservative Party Uk

Book:Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays

Source: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays

“The Stuarts and Scotland were things to dream about, but the Empire was here and now; what could one do for it?”

Scotland British Empire Jacobitism Stuart Royalist

Book:Friends and Kindred: Memoirs of Louisa Kathleen Haldane

Source: Friends and Kindred: Memoirs of Louisa Kathleen Haldane

“The brits made a career out of oppressing people, they made a lifestyle out of oppressing people, but oppression itself is not a british thing - the Brits did it, the Nazis did it, the Brahmins did it, and today the neonazis do it.”

Tyranny Oppression Occupation Colonialism British Empire British Imperialism Imperialist

Book:Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race

Source: Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race

“You simply cannot take pride in the imperialist atrocities of your ancestors and at the same time call yourself a civilized human.”

Progress Civilization Oppression Civilized Imperialism British Empire British Imperialism Imperialist

Book:Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace

Source: Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace

“Hitler was a high school bully compared to the animals of the british empire.”

Colonialism Imperialism White Supremacy Nazism British Empire British History Nazis British Imperialism Imperialist

Author:Abhijit Naskar

“Tower of London is not a heritage site, it's the Bedlam of the british.”

British Colonialism British Empire British History United Kingdom Abolish Monarchy Crown Jewels Tower Of London

Book:Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

Source: Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Were you to read the British press today, you would learn that the British Empire never forgets its defeats.”

Today Forget Presses Defeat British Empires Never Forget Forget It British Empire

Author:Robert Trout

“The Roman Empire controlled the world because it could build roads . . . the British Empire was dominant because it had ships. In the air age we were powerful because we had airplaines. Now the Communists have established a foothold in outer space.”

World Age Space Powerful Air Future British Ships Empires Controlled Communist Dominant Predictions Roman Empire Outer Space British Empire

Author:Lyndon B. Johnson

“There is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose.”

Men Made Term Connections Unions British Cease Britain Empires Yield Parliament Propose Great Britain British Empire British Parliament

Book:The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State

Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State

“I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.”

Self States Government Destiny India West Finals British Indian Empires Frontiers Formation Provinces British Empire Self-government Punjab

Book:Letters of Iqbal

Source: Letters of Iqbal

“The British Empire has advanced to a new conception of autonomyand freedom, to the idea of a system of British nations, each freely ordering its own individual life, but bound together in unity byallegiance to one Crown, and co-operating in all that concerns the common weal.”

Ideas Together Individual Nations Common Concern Unity Bounds British Empires Conception Crowns British Empire Individual Life

Author:George VI

“Britain is the only colony in the British Empire and it is up to us now to liberate ourselves.”

British Britain Empires Colony British Empire

Author:Tony Benn

“I venture to claim two qualifications for the great office which I hold, which to my mind, without making invidious distinctions, is one of the most important that can be held by any Englishman; and those qualifications are that in the first place I believe in the British Empire, and in the second place I believe in the British race. I believe that the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen.”

Source: Foreign & Colonial Speeches

“Let it be our endeavour, let it be our task, to keep alight the torch of imperial patriotism, to hold fast the affection and the confidence of our kinsmen across the seas; so that in every vicissitude of fortune the British Empire may present an unbroken front to all her foes, and may carry on even to distant ages the glorious traditions of the British flag.”

May Age Sea Fronts Tradition Tasks Fortune Affection British Glorious Empires Flags Foe Torches Endeavour British Empire Unbroken Hold Fast Vicissitudes

Book:Foreign & Colonial Speeches

Source: Foreign & Colonial Speeches

“the twelve or fifteen millions in the British Empire, who, while they possess no electoral rights, are yet persuaded they are freemen, and who are mystified into the notion that they are not political bondmen, by that great juggle of the ' English Constitution ' a thing of monopolies, and Church-craft, and sinecures, armorial hocus-pocus, primogeniture, and pageantry!”

Political Church Millions Rights Constitution Notion British Crafts Empires Twelve Fifteen Monopoly British Empire Freeman Hocus Pocus Pageantry

Book:Richard Cobden's German Diaries

Source: Richard Cobden's German Diaries

“His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.”

Earth President Lord Sea Fields Particular Doctors Fishes British Beast Empires Als Conqueror British Empire Uganda

Author:Idi Amin

“The Jews might become the dynamite that will blow up the British Empire.”

Might Blow Jew British Empires British Empire Dynamite

Author:Ze'ev Jabotinsky

“Ah, there's nothing like tea in the afternoon. When the British Empire collapses, historians will find that it had made but two invaluable contributions to civilization - this tea ritual and the detective novel.”

Made Two Novel Mystery Civilization England British Tea Contribution Empires Ritual Historian Afternoon Collapse Detectives British Empire Invaluable Mystery Novels

Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection

Source: Ayn Rand Novel Collection

“Canada's ruling circles seek to ally themselves more closely with American imperialism without giving up the economic advantages of membership in the British Empire.”

Giving Economic Giving Up Advantage British Circles Canada Empires Allies Imperialism Ruling British Empire Membership American Imperialism

Author:Tim Buck

“We thought being offered the M.B.E. [Member of the Order of the British Empire] was as funny as everybody else thought it was. Why? What for? We didn't believe it. It was a part we didn't want. We all met and agreed it was daft.”

Want Believe Order Music Mets Members Music Is British Empires British Empire Daft

Author:John Lennon

“Maya Jasanoff's Liberty's Exiles places the loyalist experience and the aftermath of the American Revolution in an entirely new light. Alongside the Spirit of 1776, Jasanoff gives us the Spirit of 1783, dedicated to remaking the mighty British Empire, and then offers a stunning reinterpretation of the Loyalists' complicated role in that remaking. Her meticulously researched and superbly written account is historical revision at its finest, and it affirms her place as one of the very finest historians of the rising generation.”

“Every empire suffers from hubris, arrogance and condescension, and therefore a moral blindness. That's true of the American empire, it was true of the British Empireearlier, and it will certainly be true of the Chinese Empire in the future.”

Suffering Moral British Being True Chinese Arrogance Empires Blindness British Empire Hubris Condescension Condescension And American Empire

Author:Cornel West

“People fail you, children disappoint you, thieves break in, moths corrupt, but an Order of the British Empire goes on for ever.”

People Children Order Break Failing Goes On British Empires Thieves Disappoint British Empire Moths

Author:Fay Weldon

“Can't' will be the epitaph of the British Empire - unless we wake up in time.”

Wake Up British Empires British Empire Epitaph

Book:Mosley: the facts

Source: Mosley: the facts

“The loss of India would mark and consummate the downfall of the British Empire. That great organism would pass at a stroke out of life into history.From such a catastrophe there could be no recovery.”

Loss India Mark British Recovery Empires Organisms Strokes Catastrophe British Empire Downfall

Author:Lord Randolph Churchill

“Commanders and senior officers should die with troops. The honour of the British Empire and the British Army is at stake.”

Should Dies Army British Empires Honour Officers Stakes Troops Senior Commanders British Empire British Army

Author:Lord Randolph Churchill

“Gandhi was important for another reason as well: his country was suffering under the British Empire, and yet he was leading a very singular kind of resistance to it. At the time he was speaking about the violence in Europe, his followers were in jail as prisoners of the British government.”

Wells Kind Important Country Reason Government Suffering Violence Europe British Resistance Empires Jail Prisoner Followers British Empire British Government

Author:Nicholson Baker

“The sun never sets on the British Empire. But it rises every morning. The sky must get awfully crowded.”

Humor Funny Morning Sun Sky British Empires Every Morning Crowded British Empire

Author:Steven Wright

“I guess the most surprising discovery was how long Gandhi remained loyal to the ideal of the British Empire, even in India.”

Long Discovery Ideals India British Empires Surprising Loyal British Empire

Author:Arthur L. Herman

“Gandhi was only minding his own business when he took a walk to get some salt and ended up overthrowing the British Empire. You can't set out to overthrow an empire, but if you have to get some salt then get some salt. If you have to write some independent songs that are honest, just write them. If you have to do a day job stacking shelves, so be it.”

Ifs Writing Jobs Song Walks Honest Independent British Empires Salt Shelves Own Business British Empire Day Jobs Stacking

Author:David Knopfler

“In the late 1930s, both the British and American movie industries made a succession of films celebrating the decency of the British Empire in order to challenge the threatening tide of Nazism and fascism and also to provide employment for actors from Los Angeles's British colony. The best two were Hollywood's Gunga Din and Britain's The Four Feathers...”

“I believe in the acceptance of personal responsibility, freedom of choice, and the British Empire, which took freedom and the rule of law to countries which would never have known it otherwise.”

Believe Country Law Choices I Believe Responsibility Known Acceptance I Believe In British Empires Personal Responsibility Rule Of Law Freedom Of Choice British Empire

Author:Margaret Thatcher

“It was on this day that the Bahamas declared independence. Before that they were a British colony. The British Empire lost Canada and the Bahamas, to name just a couple. Britain's been dumped more times than Taylor Swift. But did they go writing whining songs about it? No.”

Writing Song Names Lost Couple Independence British Britain Canada Empires This Day More Time Colony British Empire Whining Dumped Bahamas

Author:Craig Ferguson

“If you want something bad enough, you've got to make a bold move. George Washington, took on the British Empire. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Ken Titus taped a hotel key to his underwear to score with an airport security guard.”

Ifs Want Enough Moving Security Keys Moon British Score Empires Hotel Airports Want Something Underwear British Empire Armstrong Security Guards Airport Security Bold Moves

Author:Christopher Titus

“Every historian has a vested interest. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" was not about the Roman but the British empire. What price the truth?”

Fall Interest British Empires Historian Decline Roman Empire British Empire Vested Interests

Author:Peter Greenaway

“In England, the population explosion can be linked very clearly with the enclosure of the commons that uprooted the peasants from their land. In India, it was the same thing: the population increased at the end of the 18th century when the British took over and Indian lands were colonized. Instead of the land feeding Indian people it started to feed the British empire. So we had destitution. Destitute people who don't have their own land to feed themselves can only feed themselves by having larger numbers, therefore they multiply. It's the rational response of a dispossessed people.”

“The UK had plenty of people in their country just like we have here who had the same attitudes about immigration that you find on the American left and the Democrat Party here. That the Brits, because of colonialism and because the British Empire had been so unfair to people all over the world it was time to pay the price. And you had liberals who thought that all of this was making a grand diverse society and population which would improve things in the UK.”

People World Country Left Party Pay Attitude Democrat Population British Immigration Plenty Empires Diverse Colonialism Unfair Pay The Price British Empire Brits Diverse Society

Author:Rush Limbaugh

“The British Empire was so vast and so powerful, the sun would never set on it. This is how big it was, yet these 13 little scrawny states, tired of taxation without representation, tired of being exploited and oppressed and degraded, told that big British Empire, liberty or death.”

Littles States Bigs Powerful Liberty Sun Tired British Empires Representation Oppressed Taxation British Empire Taxation Without Representation

Author:Malcolm X

“In the same way the Brits had to get used to the idea that the sun had set on the British Empire, I think that there's the subrosa feeling that we are at the end of the American century, and I think that's very, very hard for Americans to take.”

Thinking Way Ideas Ends Hard Feelings Used Sun Century British Empires British Empire Brits

Author:Anna Quindlen