Quotes About Britain

Britain's historic decision to ban the international slave trade in the early nineteenth century entailed a large and long-run political and military commitment in West Africa, the source of most transatlantic slave shipments.

The greatest abuse of all-the slave trade-was ended as a direct result of the political influence of evangelical Christians in Britain, who were connected with missionary work in Africa.

Britain was overtaken not only in gross output but also in output per worker. It lost its lead in technological innovation.

Britain's earlier development of strong and widespread labor unions, which were able to restrict the application of new technology, both directly and by appropriating a sufficient share of technology's economic benefits to reduce the incentives for further technological investment.

Perhaps an even more remarkable contribution of Britain to the growth of freedom in the world was its leading role in the destruction of the international slave trade, and then of slavery itself.

It was in the wake of these erosions of economic controls that intellectual challenges were then made to the role of government in the economy, first by the Physiocrats in France, who coined the term laissez-faire, and then by Adam Smith in Britain, who became its leading champion.

Britain's iron ore and coal deposits were located near to one another and both were located near the sea-an

It was already evident to the French and other Europeans that Britain was gaining an industrial lead in the first half of the eighteenth century.There was, for example, the newly acquired technique of smelting iron with purified coal or `coke' instead of charcoal, a fuel which was becoming prohibitively expensive. There were processes for the preparation of raw wool which were trade secrets and much sought after, as were some of the arcane skills of watchmakers.

It was not that "slave trade profits" flowed through some fiendish channels into the dark satanic mills. But the burgeoning Atlantic trade of the eighteenth century derived its value from the products of slave labor and would have been much diminished in the absence of slavery. As sugar became an item of common consumption in Britain, the sugar trade provided a powerful stimulus for a diverse range of occupations and ancillary activities, especially in London.

The politics of the last twenty years in Britain are liars' politics. The problem is we are ruled by the weak and the small-minded, who are too stupid to know that they are weak and small-minded.

I have done everything I can to move Britain out of the financial danger zone.

Germany has always stood for an E.U. of the 27 countries. But in light of Britain's continued resistance to further integration steps, as we saw with the fiscal pact, there are limits to my optimism in this regard. It's quite possible that we will have to create the new institutions for the euro zone first.

Rule Britannia, Britannia, rule the waves; Britains never will be slaves.

In the end it may well be that Britain will be more honoured by the historians for the way she disposed of an empire than for the way in which she acquired it.

When Britain first at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And Guardian angels sung this strain; "Rule Britannia! rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves."

In the span of a human lifetime, and well within the collective memory, Britain went from a stable imperial power ruling an appreciable fraction of the Earth's surface to being a tumultuous patchwork which was at least superficially in decline.

The Tory party is at is strongest when it is in tune with the hopes and aspirations of Britain's hard-working, law-abiding majority, and when it governs through clear Conservative principles.

We owe America something because they turned us into a touring band. But at least we feel confident about appearing in Britain again now. Hyde park was the first time over here for ages.

There is so much cross-pollination between the U.S. and Britain in terms of comedians. British TV comedies work well in the U.S. American stand-ups make it big in Britain.

However, because Britain is young and exciting, I did show my second line here once or twice.

If you grow up in Britain, you just do Shakespeare. If you go and work in a theater once or twice or three times in your life, you're going to end up doing a Shakespeare, because he's obviously such a brilliant, brilliant writer.

China is absolutely one of the biggest players in the world and if Britain wants to be connected to the world it has to be connected to China.

Britain wants the single currency to be a success. It is massively in our interests that we have a stable financial system on our doorstep.

Brexit is the people of Britain who are fed up with the European Union dominating their lives, and they want accountability.