Quotes About Britishness

I was brought up in Britain, and I'm very proud of my Britishness and my culture.

What supposedly bound that Commonwealth together was a mysterious shared identity - Britishness.

It is unBritish to start telling women what they can and can't wear. It would immediately create a group who want to be martyrs, and this would turn into the most colossal waste of police time.

I think what is British about me is my feelings and awareness of others and their situations. English people are always known to be well mannered and cold but we are not cold - we don't interfere in your situation. If we are heartbroken, we don't scream in your face with tears - we go home and cry on our own.

Across the Atlantic, in another theatre of the identity wars, the British prime minister was narrowing the definition of Britishness to exclude multiplicity, internationalism, the world as the location of the self. Only little England would do to define the English.

I love the fact that James Ivory made films about Britain, made 'Howards End' and 'The Remains of the Day,' or that Paul Thomas Anderson made 'Phantom Thread.' They're about Britishness, but they're from an American perspective. And I actually think they're fantastic in the way that they understand Britishness.

I always find the idea of Britishness a bit of a boring old concept, to be honest. That world of Britishness always comes off a bit twee and only about cream teas and that sort of things.

'Notting Hill?' Does that poke fun at being British? Maybe it does. In 'Mickey Blue Eyes,' that's kind of the point: the clash of worlds, the unlikely combo of a respectable Englishman and a mob guy. If you take out the Britishness, you don't really have much.

The 'Britishness' debate too often descends into worthy flannel about common values and mutual respect. To give a hard edge to what it means to be British, you have to say what is un-British, and, if necessary, legislate to stop anyone committing un-British acts. Forced marriage falls squarely into this category.

I love London, even though the weather's not great. I've travelled the world and I've lived in Paris, Germany, Los Angeles and New York but I love the parks, the theatre and the Britishness and the way that all these communities have integrated.

Britishness is just a way of putting things together and a certain don't care attitude about clothes. You don't care, you just do it and it looks great.

British people are surprised that I'm British! It's extraordinary, I get tweets every day from British people saying, 'I had no idea you were British.'

My husband doesn't know what my songs are about - even when they're about him. He's very British in that way. He doesn't ask, and he doesn't want to be told.

Ever since the commercial smash that was 'The Full Monty', we've always made films about underdogs. It's something that embodies Britishness and that sense of community and people punching above their weight.

The United Kingdom is nearing its end. It begun to disintegrate with the departure of Ireland in 1922. I think the process will accelerate. We maybe setting on an avalanche, the surface is relatively calm but underneath pillars of Britishness have been seeping away.

There's a certain kind of insular, old-fashioned, upper-class Britishness that gives me the spooks. I am sure that comes from a boarding-school trauma.

I believe Britishness is defined not on ethnic and exclusive grounds but through shared values; our history of tolerance, openness and internationalism; and our commitment to democracy and liberty, to civic duty and the public space.

Coming from a different perspective on a society is really interesting. I love the Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Phantom Thread,' and that's a version of Britishness and Englishness made by an American.

The Britishness oozes from the quaint pubs, from the fish and chips and pie shops, the afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream sold in cafés. It can be heard in the crack of cricket bats on the lawns of the Windsor Country Club, where rugby is also played by the men of the neighborhood, and where the cost of a membership could feed a small country.

Britishness is just a way of putting things together and a certain don't care attitude about clothes. You don't care, you just do it and it looks great.