British Quotes - Page 34

• We have a large underclass in Britain, and a fairly low standard of education. Our best universities are extremely good, but a very significant proportion of the British population that comes out of compulsory schooling with very low standards of education.

  Nigel Short

  Education, Population, Significant

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• If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire. They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition is just, the British constitution is nothing more or less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government's being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend.

  John Adams

  Kings, Men, Voice

  John Adams (2015). “The Works of John Adams Vol. 4: Novanglus, Thoughts on Government, Defence of the Constitution I”, p.90, Jazzybee Verlag

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• Set before us the conduct of our own British ancestors, who defended for us the inherent rights of mankind against foreign and domestic tyrants and usurpers, against arbitrary kings and cruel priests; in short against the gates of earth and hell.

  John Adams

  Kings, Rights, Tyrants

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1851). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.462

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• Red Bull are backing a spinal-injury research charity called Wings For Life, which I am an ambassador for, with a programme called Faces for Charity that will run at this year's British Grand Prix.

  Mark Webber

  Running, Years, Wings

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• What will not luxury taste? Earth, sea, and air, Are daily ransack'd for the bill of fare. Blood stuffed in skins is British Christians' food, And France robs marshes of the croaking brood.

  John Gay

  Christian, Luxury, Air

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• British business is disappointed that the MPC felt unable to act more boldly to counter the worsening economic circumstances and the sharp slowdown in the pace of economic activity,.

  David Frost

  Pace, Economic, Circumstances

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• I wonder if a single thought that has helped forward the human spirit has ever been conceived or written down in an enormous room: except, perhaps, in the reading room of the British Museum.

  Kenneth Clark

  Reading, Museums, Rooms

  Kenneth Clark (2015). “Civilisation”, p.120, Hachette UK

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• There's a perception that British pies suffer from mediocrity, and historically they have. We're trying to re-educate people about what pie is.

  James Robertson

  Pie, People, Perception

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• It is no exaggeration to say that Israeli policy in the occupied territories is not simply a matter of foreign policy - it is a matter for British domestic security policy too.

  John Denham

  Territory, Matter, Foreign Policy

  "British imams to tackle radicals in mosques" by Alan Travis, www.theguardian.com. September 22, 2005.

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• The British - who rarely start a fight, but always know how to finish it - have nothing to be ashamed of.

  Tony Parsons

  Fighting, Ashamed, Know How

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• Great works of art can be produced in barbarous societies - in fact the very narrowness of primitive society gives their ornamental art a peculiar concentration and vitality. At some time in the ninth century one could have looked down the Seine and seen the prow of a Viking ship coming up the river. Looked at today in the British Museum, it is a powerful work of art; but to the mother of a family trying to settle down in her little hut, it would have seemed less agreeable - as menacing to her civilisation as the periscope of a nuclear submarine.

  Kenneth Clark

  Mother, Art, Powerful

  "Civilisation" by Kenneth Clark, (Ch. 1), 1969.

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• The British public has always had an unerring taste for ungifted amateurs.

  John Osborne

  Taste

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• There will be a quick rash of hairy American filth, but it shouldn't threaten the existence of decent, serious British filth.

  John Osborne

  Filth, Serious, Existence

  1967 On the opening of the USmusical Hair, in Time magazine.

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• Chuchill has renounced all British interests in Europe and those of his people who are not blind now realise that the pretext for this war was far removed from the cause of it, namely, the subservience of the so-called democratic politicians to their Jewish masters.

  William Joyce

  War, Europe, People

  Broadcast on Radio Cologne, August 30, 1944.

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• The passion for exploration and discovery, the hunger to learn all things about all aspects of the physical world, the great and preposterous optimism that held that such truths were in fact discoverable, its dazzling sophistication and its occasional startling innocence; an age in which geographical and scientific discoveries surpassed anything previously dreamt of, and yet an age in which it was still, just barely, possible to believe in mermaids and unicorns - these remarkable traits so characterized the British 18th century

  Caroline Alexander

  Believe, Passion, Discovery

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

  Steven Wright

  Funny, Morning, Humor

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• You'll get unsociable people whatever the nationality, colour, race or creed. I guess the British abroad have probably got the worst record of anyone.

  Ken Loach

  Race, People, Records

  "Ken Loach and Paul Laverty". Interview with Simon Hattenstone, www.theguardian.com. September 17, 2007.

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• I'm somebody who is very, very proud to have been a part of the British film industry all my life and to have kind of been involved with a very important piece of British film history.

  Daniel Radcliffe

  Film History, Important, Proud

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

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• That's the one thing I say about the great British shows. You know, I see it on the series on HBO where the season is shortened to like 12 or 6 or whatever it is. You know there's a reason why there's a quality behind that. Because I think the writers as well as the crew and the cast do get burnt out after doing continuous episodes after and over and it feels like a factory rather than something of a creative process. And we get tapped out. That's just my opinion.

  Hayden Panettiere

  Thinking, Hbo, Creative

  Source: www.movieweb.com

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• 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.

  Eric Bana

  School, Years, Australia

  "The Other Boleyn Girl - Eric Bana interview". Interview with Rob Carnevale, www.indielondon.co.uk.

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• No 'rules.' What are you, British or something? I guess I'm too nice... No wonder people take advantage of me.

  Alfonso Cuaron

  Nice, People, Wonder

  Source: www.indiewire.com

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• I do see a big difference in the American work ethic compared to the British work ethic in a lot of artists.

  Simon Cowell

  Artist, Differences, Work Ethic

  Interview with Dimitri Ehrlich, www.interviewmagazine.com. August 20, 2011.

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• I'm an atheist .I was raised in British reform Judaism, which is not like American reform Judaism, much less any other strain of organised religion. So: no cults here.

  Charles Stross

  Atheist, Reform, Judaism

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• I wanted an agent who would actually sell stuff. After two British agents failed comprehensively, I was reading Locus (the SF field's trade journal) and noticed a press release about an experienced editor leaving her job to join an agent in setting up a new agency. And I went "aha!" - because what you need is an agent who knows the industry but who doesn't have a huge list of famous clients whose needs will inevitably be put ahead of you. So I emailed her, and ... well, 11 years later I am the client listed at the top of her masthead!

  Charles Stross

  Jobs, Reading, Editors

  Reddit AMA, www.reddit.com. July 2, 2012.

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• I like lassic British spy thrillers. Seriously. If the cold war was still on, that's something I'd be writing.

  Charles Stross

  War, Writing, Spy

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