“Providence has given to the French the empire of the land, to the English that of the sea, to the Germans that of--the air!” GivenAirSeaLandEnglandPossessionEmpiresProvidence Book:Critical and Miscellaneous Essays ... Source: Critical and Miscellaneous Essays ...
“A British imperium enabled Scots to feel themselves peers of the Ebglish in a way still denied them in an island kingdom. The language bears that out very clearly. The English and the foreign are still all too inclined to refer to the island of Great Britain as 'England'. But at no time have they ever customarily referred to an English empire.” WayFeelsStillsLanguageBearsEnglandBritishKingdomsIslandsBritainEmpiresDeniedPeersGreat BritainBritish HistoryScots Author:Linda Colley
“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.” MadeTwoNovelMysteryCivilizationEnglandBritishTeaContributionEmpiresRitualHistorianAfternoonCollapseDetectivesBritish EmpireInvaluableMystery Novels Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection Source: Ayn Rand Novel Collection
“One of the reasons the English got through all their falls and the loss of their empire, all their disasters, their strikes, their difficulties, their wars through the years was they had Shakespeare to fall back on. And they speak well in England.” YearsWellsWarReasonFallSpeakLossDifficultyEnglandStrikesDisasterEmpiresFall BackThrough The Years Author:Norman Mailer
“The Germans are called brutal, the Spanish cruel, the Americans superficial, and so on; but we are perfide Albion, the island of hypocrites, the people who have built up an Empire with a Bible in one hand, a pistol in the other, and financial concessions in both pockets. Is the charge true? I think it is.” PeopleThinkingHandsBuiltEnglandFinancialIslandsPocketsEmpiresBrutalSuperficialHypocritePistolsConcessions Author:E. M. Forster
“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.” PeopleEndsNumbersLandCenturyIndiaEnglandResponsePopulationBritishRationalIndianEmpiresFeedingLinkedExplosionsPeasantsBritish Empire18th CenturyDestituteEnclosurePopulation Explosion Author:Vandana Shiva
“I'd signed up not just for Christianity but the established Church of England. That has a particular history and I think we rather lost it in the 19th Century, we became so much part of empire and colonialism, the language of the Church Of England still reflects that Victorian time. As the 20th Century developed, not surprisingly people left the church and I can see the church's role in losing people.” PeopleThinkingStillsI CanLostLeftLanguageChurchChristianityRolesCenturyParticularLosingEnglandEmpiresColonialism20th Century19th CenturyVictorianChurch Of EnglandVictorian Times Author:Alan Green
“Malcolm Bradbury made the point, and I don't know whether it's a valid one or not, that the real English at the moment is not the English spoken in England or in America or even in Canada or Australia or New Zealand. The real English is the English which is a second language, so that it's rather like Latin in the days of the Roman Empire when people had their own languages, but had Latin in order to communicate.” PeopleKnowsMadeRealMomentsAmericaOrderLanguageEnglandCommunicateCanadaEmpiresAustraliaLatinRoman EmpireNew ZealandBradbury Author:William Golding
“No, men and women of the Irish race, we shall not fight for England. We shall fight for the destruction of the British Empire and the construction of an Irish republic.” MenFightingRaceMen And WomenDestructionEnglandBritishEmpiresRepublicConstructionBritish Empire Author:James Larkin
“At the height of the British Empire very few English novels were written that dealt with British power. It's extraordinary that at the moment in which England was the global superpower the subject of British power appeared not to interest most writers.” MomentsInterestNovelWrittenSubjectsEnglandExtraordinaryBritishHeightEmpiresSuperpowerBritish Empire Author:Salman Rushdie
“I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air -- or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.” MenAirCircumstancesEnglandLondonIncomeEmpiresPermitElevenDrainedIdlersStudy In Scarlet Author:Arthur Conan Doyle
“God save the Queen and a fascist regime … a flabby toothless fascism, to be sure. Never go too far in any direction, is the basic law on which Limey-Land is built. The Queen stabilizes the whole sinking shithouse and keeps a small elite of wealth and privilege on top. The English have gone soft in the outhouse. England is like some stricken beast too stupid to know it is dead. Ingloriously foundering in its own waste products, the backlash and bad karma of empire” KnowsWholeLawWealthGoneLandStupidProductsWasteBuiltEnglandPrivilegeKarmaQueensBeastEmpiresFascismRegimesElitesFascistsSinkingBacklashBad KarmaToothless Author:William S. Burroughs
“I received an OBE from the Queen, which probably doesn't mean anything in America but is quite nice in England - the Order of the British Empire for services to drama.” MeanAmericaOrderNiceDramaEnglandBritishQueensEmpiresBritish Empire Author:Joan Collins
“When England was a kingdom, we had a king. When we were an empire, we had an emperor. Now we're a country, and we have Margaret Thatcher.” CountryKingsEnglandKingdomsEmpiresEmperor Author:Kenny Everett
“It has been said that the people of this country are deeply interested in the humanitarian and philanthropic considerations involved in [the Eastern Question]. All must appreciate such feelings. But I am mistaken if there be not a yet deeper sentiment on the part of the people of this country, one with which I cannot doubt your lordships will ever sympathise, and that is - the determination to maintain the Empire of England.” PeopleIfsHas BeensSaidCountryFeelingsDoubtInvolvedDeterminationAppreciateEnglandDeeperHumanitarianConsiderationEmpiresSentimentsMistakenEasternPhilanthropicLordship Author:Benjamin Disraeli
“New England is a finished place. Its destiny is that of Florence or Venice, not Milan while the American empire careens onward toward its unpredicted end. . . . It is the first American section to be finished to achieve stability in the conditions of its life. It is the first old civilization, the first permanent civilization in America.” LifeFirstsEndsAmericaDestinyAchieveConditionsCivilizationEnglandFinishedPermanentEmpiresStabilitySectionsVeniceNew EnglandFlorenceMilanAmerican Empire Author:Bernard DeVoto