When I look at our country today and see what we are willing to do to protect and support one another, I say with pride that we are still a nation, those brave soldiers, sailors, and airmen would recognize and admire. – Queen Elizabeth II VE Day speech 2020, during Britain’s battle against Covid-19.
The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future. – Queen Elizabeth II Message to British people during coronavirus crisis.
I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humored resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country. – Queen Elizabeth II Message to British people during coronavirus crisis.
When people say England, they sometimes mean Great Britain, sometimes the United Kingdom, sometimes the British Isles, – but never England. – George Mikes
Non-conformity has always been one of the great British virtues, and that includes non-conformity to things British. – Howard Jacobson
I’ve always worked on the fringe of the British press establishment, carving out this niche for myself. – Heather Brooke
I was fat-shamed the other day on a British newspaper. The headline was ‘Four Bellies and a Turkey Neck.’ They weren’t wrong. I looked shocking. – Hugh Grant
Nova Scotia as a British colony also came into being as another result of these adventurous British expeditions to North America in the reign of James I. – Harry Johnston
The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. – Gordon Sinclair
I stand on my public record as a defender of the human rights of Muslims, notably my work for Moazzam Begg and other British Muslims detained without trial in Guantanamo Bay. – Hari Kunzru
There are no countries in the world less known by the British than those selfsame British Islands. – George Borrow
Foreign students add cultural value to their British peers, who need an international outlook. – Giles Foden
There is no cannibalism in the British navy, absolutely none, and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount. – Graham Chapman
The British claim to have a special relationship with the U.S., but if you mention this in Washington, no one knows what you are talking about. – Helmut Schmidt
Let’s turn British inventions into British industries, British factories and British jobs. Let them make pounds for us, not dollars marks or yen for others. – John Major
And I definitely do that very British thing of, take things with a pinch of salt, stiff upper lip, you know what I mean? – Jessie J
The public must suffer untold pangs from the stiffness, the deliberate stifling of emotion, on the part of many British actors. – Ivor Novello
I was born in the city’s general hospital on November 15, 1930, and we lived at 31 Amherst Avenue in the western suburbs. It was a magical place. There were receptions at the French Club, race meetings at the Shanghai Racecourse, and various patriotic gatherings at the British Embassy on the Bund, the city’s glamorous waterfront area. – J. G. Ballard
Shakespeare’s language does not require a British accent. It requires a facility with language, and that’s all. – Joss Whedon
I’m three quarters Scottish, but I sound English. I don’t really see British as a race. – Joanna Lumley