Brussels Quotes

• Most people don't know how to tell stories.

  Ted Rall

  People, Stories, Brussel Sprouts

  66 Copy quote

• Brussels is a gay little city that lies as bright within its girdle of woodland as any butterfly that rests upon moss.

  Ouida

  Lying, Butterfly, Gay

  Ouida (2016). “Bébée, or Two Little Wooden Shoes”, p.24, Ouida

  34 Copy quote

  Show source

• The heart of France lies between Brussels and Paris.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  War, Lying, Heart

  4 Copy quote

• There was an Old Person of Brussels, Who lived upon Brandy and Mussels; When he rushed through the town, he knocked most people down, Which distressed all the people of Brussels.

  Edward Lear

  People, Alcohol, Towns

  Edward Lear (2001). “The Complete Verse and Other Nonsense”, Lane, Allen

  23 Copy quote

  Show source

• I can't think of anything I can't stand the taste of less than brussels sprouts.

  Michael Welch

  Thinking, Taste, Brussel Sprouts

  Source: www.thestarscoop.com

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• For many people, politics in Brussels and Strasbourg might as well be happening on another planet.

  Martin Schulz

  People, Might, Planets

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  23 Copy quote

  Show source

• Brussels sprouts are misunderstood - probably because most people don't know how to cook them properly.

  Todd English

  People, Misunderstood, Brussel Sprouts

  62 Copy quote

• If tomorrow morning Brussels should decide to let Turkey in, Italians wouldn't be free to oppose it, neither in Parliament nor through a referendum. A

  Matteo Salvini

  Morning, Turkeys, Tomorrow

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• It’s a Belgian beer, sweetie. Please tell me you’ve at least heard of it. (Blaine) Boy, I was born in Brussels and the last time I checked, this was my new homeland, America, not my birthplace. So you can either order an American-made beer or I’ll bring you water and you can sit there and act all superior until you puke, okay? (Aimee)

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Beer, Boys, Order

  14 Copy quote

• When will Labour learn that you cannot build Jerusalem in Brussels.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Europe, Jerusalem, Britain

  Margaret Thatcher, Iain Dale (1997). “As I said to Denis--: the Margaret Thatcher book of quotations”, Robson Book Ltd

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Just come to Brussels after a Council meeting. Do you know what happens? Every head of government holds his or her own press conference. They all say the same thing, in 24 languages: I was able to push through my agenda. And if the result is anything other than what they desired, the message is: Brussels is to blame. It has been this way for over 20 years. These messages stick with people, and that's deadly for Europe.

  Martin Schulz

  Government, Years, Europe

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• The brussels sprout. This is also the worst vegetable of next year.

  Steven Rubenstein

  Humorous, Vegetables, Years

  10 Copy quote

• Everybody used to say going to restaurants... is like theater, there's stage sets, there's drama, there's play acting and you watch the show. And now, boy, everything's just become so serious. And you sit at the counter and the chef comes out and tells you what he did to the Brussels sprouts leaves and no, there's not a lot of dancing.

  Pete Wells

  Drama, Boys, Play

  Source: www.wbur.org

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• We kids feared many things in those days - werewolves, dentists, North Koreans, Sunday School - but they all paled in comparison with Brussels sprouts.

  Dave Barry

  School, Kids, Sunday

  7 Copy quote

• Countries are different. They make different choices. We cannot harmonise everything. For example, it is neither right nor necessary to claim that the integrity of the single market, or full membership of the European Union requires the working hours of British hospital doctors to be set in Brussels irrespective of the views of British parliamentarians and practitioners.

  David Cameron

  Country, Integrity, Doctors

  "The speech that was the start of the end of David Cameron". David Cameron's speech on Britain's membership of the EU, www.independent.co.uk. June 24, 2016.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The world likes humor, but it treats it patronizingly. It decorates its serious artists with laurel, and its wags with Brussels sprouts.

  E. B. White

  Humor, Artist, World

  E. B. WHITE (1954). “The SECOND TREE from the CORNER”

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I think that the real tragedy of Greece - aside of the savagery of European bureaucracy, Brussels bureaucracy and northern banks, which was really savage - is that the Greek crisis didn't have to erupt. It could have been taken care of pretty easily at the very beginning. But it happened and Syriza came into office with a declared commitment to combat it, and in fact as I recall they actually called a referendum, which horrified Europe.

  Noam Chomsky

  Real, Taken, Commitment

  Source: pennpoliticalreview.org

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• At the time, Jean-Claude [Juncker] was already an important man in Brussels. I was a young representative in the European Parliament. We talked for a long time and from that point on, our connection became increasingly deep. But our working-class origins are at least as important to our bond.

  Martin Schulz

  Men, Class, Long

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I do not see the E.E.C. [European Economic Community] as a great love affair. It's more like nine middle aged couples with failing marriages meeting at a Brussels hotel for a group grope.

  Kenneth Tynan

  Travel, Couple, Home

  9 Copy quote

• HR?'
  'Human Resources.'
  'In Brussels that kind of department is referred to as the Office for Personkind Enablement. Resources sounds like something you dig out of the ground.

  Peter F. Hamilton

  Office, Sound, Kind

  Peter F. Hamilton (2012). “Great North Road”, p.63, Pan Macmillan

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• I like democracy. I like to be able to throw out my political leaders when they get things wrong, and we don't get to do that with Brussels.

  David Cameron

  Leader, Political, Democracy

  47 Copy quote

• I don't understand why Italians should be bound to Brussels's choices without being able to express themselves through a referendum.

  Matteo Salvini

  Choices, Able, Referendums

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• The message that "we can't take in everybody" is imperative. At the same time, the decision as to who has a right to asylum needs to be made in Brussels.

  Paolo Gentiloni

  Decision, Needs, Asylums

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm going to reduce the size of the Cabinet, cut the number of ministers, reduce the size of the House of Commons, campaign for a European Parliament with 100 fewer members, halve the number of political advisers, and abolish a huge swathe of Labour's regional bureaucracies - and agencies and their offices in Brussels.

  William Hague

  Cutting, Agency, Numbers

  "'The last chance election for Britain'". Speech by the Rt Hon William Hague MP, leader of the Conservative party, to the spring forum in Harrogate, www.theguardian.com. March 4, 2001.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• You know, you try to move the Brussels bureaucracy, and unless you have some capacity to really break it, you can't move it. It just sits there and stares at you.

  Newt Gingrich

  Moving, Trying, Break

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

  Show source