Quotes About British

I say, Rodney, there's one of your typical Scottish 'raggediers' now." His accent was British, exaggeratedly well-bred.

Webster's dislike of words that weren't pronounced the way they looked led him to decree that words such as centre and theatre should be spelled center and theater; he also dropped the silent u from words such as colour, favour and honour. In fact, Webster was single-handedly responsible for most of the differences between British and American spelling that survive to this day.

England, with its upsetting history of colonialism. It never did seem quite right to Norris, the British being so utterly British no matter where they were. One ought to adapt, he believes. One ought to accommodate. Change, after all, is the great elixir of life.

As they say, one thing led to another, and, ultimately, the British and Irish governments asked me to serve as chairman of the peace negotiations, which ironically began six years ago this week.

Times goin' change again an' things too, and that great British Empire goin' change too, 'cause time ain't got nothin' to do with these empires. God don't like ugly, an' whenever these big great empires starts to get ugly with the thing they does the Almighty puts His hands down once an' for all. He tell them without talkin', fellows, you had your day. (p.101)

And that year Australians officially became the richest people in the world, overtaking the British and the Dutch on the measure of GDP per person.

In the POW camps, Australian soldiers shared their rations with a fastidious egalitarianism, and reportedly had a higher survival rate than the class-conscious British and the individualistic Americans.

An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.

Q. Why don't the British panic? A. They do, but very quietly. It is impossible for the naked eye to tell their panic from their ecstasy.

There are some occasions when you must not refuse a cup of tea, otherwise you are judged an exotic and barbarous bird without any hope of ever being able to take your place in civilised society. If you are invited to an English home, at five o'clock in the morning you get a cup of tea. It is either brought in by a heartily smiling hostess or an almost malevolently silent maid.

THE British are brave people. They can face anything, except reality.

It is so much nicer to ask, when someone speaks of Barbados, Banska Bystrica or Fiji: 'Oh those little islands.... Are they British?' (They usually are.)

The first aim of a British film producer should be to teach Hollywood a lesson. Do not be misled, however, by the examples of Henry V or Pygmalion, which tend to prove that excellent films can be made of great plays without changing the out-of-date words of Shakespeare and the un-film-like dialogues of Shaw by ten 'experts' who really know better.

THE trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink. So a group of the most eminent British scientists put their heads together, and made complicated biological experiments to find a way of spoiling it.

The positive news is that the British economy is continuing to grow and is creating jobs. And it is positive news too that at a time of real international instability we are a safe haven in the storm.

We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.

The British House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.

The sorry plight of the upper class is something that is all too often ignored in the defence of the British monarchy.

I fell one time," Hamill says. "But I was able to tuck and roll like I was taught. I was later made a member of the British Stunt Union—not just a belt buckle, but a full membership.

The British are coming. One if by land, two if by sea.

When I started wrestling, WWE was a light at the end of the tunnel that no-one thought they could ever get to. Especially being British, only one or two people ever got there.

I have a personal relationship with Dizzee Rascal - I know him, he's cool - so this is no disrespect to him or any other British rappers who tried to make it in America, like Wiley and Tinie Tempah, but the type of music they were making to be accepted over there - it doesn't translate.

Being a typical Briton, I love my home comforts and always try and find an English pub where I can tuck into some traditional English food, accompanied by a nice pint. Fortunately, I haven't been ill with food poisoning or anything like that, which is quite surprising considering how many different types of food I eat when I'm travelling.

I am the typical British aspiring working class. To be called 'elite' by people who have inherited wealth and run hedge funds or worked in the City of London, I don't criticise them for it, but the idea is frankly laughable. Just ridiculous.