“About California... "I thought it was an appalling place. Then I went through a period of being amused by it. Now it's sort of both. Californians don't have that marvelous British cynicism, but then the British can be so patronizing at times.” PeriodsBritishCaliforniaCynicismMarvelousAmusementAlexAmusedPatronizingCalifornians Author:Alex Kingston
“We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period, and underestimate what we can do over a long period, provided we work slowly and consistently. Anthony Trollope, the nineteenth-century writer who managed to be a prolific novelist while also revolutionizing the British postal system, observed, “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.” Over the long run, the unglamorous habit of frequency fosters both productivity and creativity.” IfsLongRunningCan DoCreativityCenturyHabitPeriodsBeatsTasksBritishProductivityNovelistsLabourLong RunsConsistentlyUnderestimateFrequencyNineteenth CenturyOverestimateDaily Tasks Author:Gretchen Rubin
“[Congress] is not the British Parliament, and I hope it never will become the British Parliament... Are we going to bring the president in here and have a question period like the prime minister has in Great Britain?” PresidentPeriodsCongressBritishMinistersBritainPrimePrime MinisterParliamentGreat BritainBritish Parliament Author:Trent Lott
“Human beings are many-layered creatures, and do not succumb to the hegemony of others as easily as historians and politicians sometimes imply. Those Welsh, Scottish and Anglo-Irish individuals who became part of the British Establishment in this period did not in the main sell out in the sense of becoming Anglicised look-alikes. Instead, they became British in a new and intensely profitable fashion, while remaining in their own minds and behavior Welsh, or Scottish, or Irish aswell.” MindHumansLooksSometimesIndividualHuman BeingsFashionBecomingPeriodsPoliticianCreaturesBehaviorSellsBritishHistorianEstablishmentProfitableScottishBritish HistoryHegemonyWelsh Author:Linda Colley
“Recognising that an ostentatious cult of heroism and state service served an important propaganda function for the British elite does not mean, of course, that we should dismiss it as artificial or insincere. All aristocracies have a strong military tradition, and for many British patricians the protracted warfare of the period was a godsend. It gave them a job, and, more important, a purpose, an opportunity to carry out what they had been trained to do since childhood: ride horses, fire guns, exercise their undoubted physical courage and tell other people what to do.” PeopleShouldMeanDoeImportantStatesJobsPurposeCoursesOpportunityStrongFireChildhoodMilitaryPeriodsExerciseGunTraditionFunctionHorseBritishPropagandaElitesArtificialHeroismWarfareCultAristocracyBritish HistoryInsincereOstentatiousPhysical Courage Author:Linda Colley
“It would be wrong to interpret the growth of British national consciousness in this period in terms of a new cultural and political uniformity being resolutely imposed on the peripheries of the island by its centre. For many poorer and less literate Britons, Scotland, Wales and England remained more potent rallying calls than Great Britain, except in times of danger from abroad. And even among the politically educated, it was common to think in terms of dual nationalities, not a single national identity.” ThinkingWould BePoliticalGrowthTermCommonConsciousnessDangerIdentityPeriodsEnglandBritishEducatedIslandsBritainCentreScotlandNationalityGreat BritainWalesUniformityBritish HistoryPeripheryRallyingNational IdentityBritons Author:Linda Colley
“Its subject is the slow and erratic process by which the peoples of the British Isles learnt - and then for long periods forgot - about the 'Safeguard of the Sea', as the 15th century phrase had it, meaning the use of the sea for national defence, and the defence of those who used the sea.” LongUseUsedProcessSeaSubjectsCenturyPeriodsBritishPhrasesDefenceIsleErratic Author:Nicholas Rodger
“One of the reasons I decided to apply for American citizenship after something like a quarter of century of living here on a British, European Union passport and a green card, was my identification with the United States in the post-September 11th period.” StatesReasonUnitedUnited StatesCenturyPeriodsDecidedGreenUnionsBritishCardsPostsQuartersSeptemberCitizenshipEuropean UnionIdentificationPassportsSeptember 11thGreen CardAmerican Citizenship Author:Christopher Hitchens
“Overall his period in office can only be characterised as a decade of missed opportunities in which the hopes of the British people for a new kind of politics were shattered [on Tony Blair]” PeopleKindOpportunityPeriodsOfficeBritishDecadesShatteredBlairMissed Opportunity Author:Menzies Campbell
“I've done my share of period stuff. I'm not sure why, but people say I have a period face. The bread and butter of British TV is Jane Austen adaptations and bridges and bonnets and boats and horses.” PeopleDoneFacesStuffShareTvsPeriodsHorseBritishBreadBoatBridgesNot SureAdaptationJaneAustenBread And ButterBonnets Author:Tom Hiddleston
“I knew a bit but we don't study a lot of British history at school in Australia. We have our own 50-year period to concentrate on.” YearsSchoolBitsStudyPeriodsBritishAustraliaBritish History Author:Eric Bana
“We [Americans] inherited British law, which is like the new "reforms" that are being made now, in the sense that people are permanently entrapped in debt, if they once fall into bankruptcy. The reason that the law was changed in American history - the whole early period of the formation of the country was moving away from British law into a law that is generated here and that conforms to the sense of what is appropriate here.” PeopleIfsMadeCountryReasonWholeMovingLawFallChangedPeriodsBritishDebtReformAppropriateAmerican HistoryConformFormationBankruptcyMoving Away Author:Marilynne Robinson
“A Jew who converted, who simulated, was, at least in some periods, safe. Hitler in the beginning did not want to kill all the Jews but he wanted us to have a Germany free of Jews. If America had allowed Jews to come in, the British had accepted Jews from Palestine, they were safe.” IfsWantWantedAmericaPeriodsSafeJewBritishAcceptedGermanyPalestine Author:Elie Wiesel
“In the period of '60s to the '90s, British art schools were small, and the number of student was small. The personal contact was great.” ArtSchoolNumbersStudentsPeriodsBritishContactArt School Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“Comedy has always been something I love, but for some reason - probably because of the British accent - I've always been pushed toward more period work.” ReasonComedyPeriodsBritishAccents Author:Toks Olagundoye