Britain Quotes - Page 23

• America, ladies and gentlemen, has done more for me financially than Britain ever has, or ever could have done.

  Felix Dennis

  America, Gentleman, Done

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• Britain is famous for being great at inventing and poor at commercializing.

  Margaret Heffernan

  Poor, Inventing

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• Would you like all of your Facebook friends to sift through your trash? A group of designers from Britain and Germany think that you might. Meet BinCam: a 'smart' trash bin that aims to revolutionize the recycling process.

  Evgeny Morozov

  Smart, Thinking, Groups

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• Britain is rich in radicalism, and anyone who says that our society has drifted into fatalism and apathy should get out more.

  Geoff Mulgan

  Apathy, Radicalism, Our Society

  "The 50 new radicals" by Geoff Mulgan, www.theguardian.com. February 18, 2012.

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• In Britain, polls show large majorities in favour of mansion taxes and higher taxes on the finance sector.

  Geoff Mulgan

  Majority, Favour, Finance

  "Are we back to the 1930s again? Here's why we shouldn't panic" by Geoff Mulgan, www.theguardian.com. March 19, 2013.

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• People in Britain see Richard Quest as a kind of an offensive cartoon character.

  John Oliver

  Character, People, Cartoon

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• I get nostalgic for British negativity. There is an inherent hope and positive drive to New Yorkers. When you go back to Britain, everybody is just running everything down. It's like whatever the opposite of a hug is.

  John Oliver

  Running, Opposites, Negativity

  "Guest Host John Oliver Will Try Not to Destroy 'The Daily Show'". Interview with Marisa Guthrie, www.hollywoodreporter.com. May 31, 2013.

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• We in Britain stopped evolving gastronomically with the advent of the pie. Everything beyond that seemed like a brave, frightening new world. We knew the French were up to something across the Channel, but we didn't want anything to do with it.

  John Oliver

  Pie, Brave, World

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• We believe no more in Bonaparte's fighting merely for the liberties of the seas than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties of mankind. The object is the same, to draw to themselves the power, the wealth and the resources of other nations.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Fighting, Sea

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1808-1816”, p.241, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Researchers from Britain's Keele University have found that swearing after an injury may help alleviate pain. Evidently, the pain that you feel is inversely proportional to the number of middle names you give Jesus.

  Stephen Colbert

  Jesus, Pain, Names

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• Monty Python: A documentary series on everyday life in Great Britain.

  Frank Portman

  Python, Everyday, Documentaries

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• We stole countries with the cunning use of flags. Just sail around the world and stick a flag in. "I claim India for Britain!" They're going "You can't claim us, we live here! Five hundred million of us!" "Do you have a flag …? "No..." "Well, if you don't have a flag, then you can't have a country. Those are the rules... that I just made up!

  Eddie Izzard

  Country, India, Flags

  "Dress to Kill", 1998.

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• I don't think wood was discovered in Britain until the 1970's. That's when I discovered it anyway.

  Craig Ferguson

  Thinking, Woods, Puberty

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• About a hundred or so years before you were born, a Dark-Hunter made the mistake of falling in love with his Talpina. Unfortunately for the rest of us, she didn’t pass Artemis’s test. Artemis was so angry, she stepped in and banished the Talpinas from us, and implemented the oh so wonderful you’re-only-supposed-to-sleep-with-them-once rule. As further backlash, Acheron came up with the never-touch-your-Squire law. I tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried to find a decent one-night stand in seventh-century Britain. (Talon)

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Falling In Love, Mistake, Sleep

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• Arthur’s fingers tighten on the silver-braided hilt: see how naturally it fits his hand! He pulls. The Sword of Britain slides from its stone sheath. The ease with which this is accomplished shines in the wonder in Arthur’s eyes. He truly cannot believe what he has done. Nor can he comprehend what it means.

  Stephen R. Lawhead

  Believe, Mean, Eye

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• America is subsidizing what is left of the prestige and strength of the once mighty Britain. The sun has set forever on that monocled, pith-helmeted resident colonialist, sipping tea with his delicate lady in the non-white colonies being systematically robbed of every valuable resource. Britain's superfluous royalty and nobility now exist by charging tourists to inspect the once baronial castles, and by selling memoirs, perfumes, autographs, titles, and even themselves.

  Malcolm X

  White, America, Forever

  Malcolm X (2015). “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, p.292, Ballantine Books

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• Yet, there was once a king worthy of that name. That king was Arthur. It is paramount disgrace of this evil generation that the name of that great king is no longer spoken aloud except in derision. Arthur! He was the fairest flower of our race, Cymry's most noble son, Lord of the Summer Realm, Pendragon of Britain. He wore God's favour like a purple robe. Hear then, if you will, the tale of a true king.

  Stephen R. Lawhead

  Summer, Kings, Flower

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• I fall in love with Britain every day, with bridges, buses, blue skies... but it’s a brutal world, man.

  Pete Doherty

  Falling In Love, Men, Blue

  Metro, August 25, 2006.

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• Besides, I'd seen a really nice pair of shoes yesterday in the mall and I wanted them for my own. I can't describe the feeling of immediate familiarity that rushed between us. The moment I clapped eyes on them I felt like I already owned them. I could only suppose that we were together in a former life. That they were my shoes when I was a serving maid in medieval Britain or when I was a princess in ancient Egypt. Or perhaps they were the princess and I was the shoes. Who's to know? Either way I knew that we were meant to be together.

  Marian Keyes

  Nice, Princess, Eye

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• How carelessly imperial power vivisected ancient civilizations. Palestine and Kashmir are imperial Britain's festering, blood-drenched gifts to the modem world. Both are fault lines in the raging international con�icts of today.

  Arundhati Roy

  Ancient Civilizations, Blood, Kashmir

  Transcription of Arundhati Roy reading and Ms. Roy and Howard Zinn in conversation Lensic Performing Arts Center Santa Fe, New Mexico, www.scoop.co.nz. November 8, 2002.

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• I have a special "ah, here I am again, I know exactly what they are going to have for breakfast" feeling when I get back into Roman Britain, which is very nice.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Nice, Here I Am, Feelings

  "Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth" by Charlotte Higgins, www.theguardian.com. April 1, 2011.

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• But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain.

  Thomas Paine

  God, Kings, America

  Thomas Paine (2015). “Common Sense”, p.34, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• And I don't really have anyone upon whom I want to rain down my wrath," I said, because in truth I didn't. I always felt like you had to be important to have enemies. Example: Historically, Germany has had more enemies than Luxembourg, Margo Roth Spiegelman was Germany. And Great Britain. And the United States. And czarist Russia. Me, I'm Luxembourg. Just sitting around, tending sheep, and yodeling.

  John Green

  Rain, Russia, Sheep

  John Green (2013). “Paper Towns”, p.59, A&C Black

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• In Britain, a cup of tea is the answer to every problem. Fallen off your bicycle? Nice cup of tea. Your house has been destroyed by a meteorite? Nice cup of tea and a biscuit. Your entire family has been eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex that has travelled through a space/time portal? Nice cup of tea and a piece of cake. Possibly a savoury option would be welcome here too, for example a Scotch egg or a sausage roll.

  David Walliams

  Nice, Cake, Eggs

  "Mr. Stink". Book by David Walliams, www.mirror.co.uk. 2009.

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• Listen, are we helpless? Are we doomed to do it again and again and again? Have we no choice but to play the Phoenix in an unending sequence of rise and fall? Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Rome, the Empires of Charlemagne and the Turk: Ground to dust and plowed with salt. Spain, France, Britain, America—burned into the oblivion of the centuries. And again and again and again. Are we doomed to it, Lord, chained to the pendulum of our own mad clockwork, helpless to halt its swing? This time, it will swing us clean to oblivion.

  Walter M. Miller, Jr.

  Fall, Play, Phoenix

  Walter M. Miller Jr (2014). “A Canticle For Leibowitz”, p.146, Hachette UK

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