British Quotes, Quotations & Sayings

It must be owned, that the Graces do not seem to be natives of Great Britain; and I doubt, the best of us here have more of rough than polished diamond.
Earl of Chesterfield

The French and the British are such good enemies that they can’t resist being friends.
Peter Ustinov

No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision.
Barbara Tuchman

I feel like I’ve been engaged to the British Empire since 1980 and tonight you have given me the ring [knighthood].
Steven Spielberg

The British press have been giving me six months to live for 20 years.
Anonymous

A traditional fixture at Wimbledon is the way the BBC TV commentary box fills up with British players eliminated in the early rounds.
Clive James

The hard left is a very small section of the British population and I myself am not hard left. I am a traditional Labour left-winger.
George Galloway

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. To the eternal glory of British science their labor bore fruit.
George Mikes

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.
Mahatma Gandhi

I had the patriotic conviction that, given great leadership of the sort I heard from Winston Churchill in the radio broadcasts to which we listened, there was almost nothing that the British people could not do.
Margaret Thatcher

British ferries have stopped transporting live animals to the Continent. This has made it very difficult for England fans to get to away matches.
Jo Brand

They have got to decide how much they want it. Obviously I exclude Andy Murray from any collective criticism as I think he has a fantastic future.
Tim Henman

To win more medals at Beijing is just fantastic, and British cycling has come a huge way in the last few years.
Bradley Wiggins

These are the same old fogies who doffed their lids and tugged the forelock to the British establishment [of Aussie Tory supporters of Britain]
Paul Keating

Obviously you’d rather be British number one than British number 20, but I’d much rather have a higher world ranking than British because you don’t play any tournaments that are just British players.
Andrew Murray

The art critics on some of Britain’s newspapers could as easily have been assigned gardening or travel, and been cheerfully employed for life.
Charles Saatchi

The writers of the Indian philosophies will survive, when the British dominion in India shall long have ceased to exist, and when the sources which it yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrances
Warren Hastings

That was the best performance I’ve ever seen of any British fighter in the ring in my time in boxing.
Frank Warren

It is a real honour to have been modelling for Britain’s biggest paper for half a decade. Page Three is a British institution and it has been brilliant to be part of it.
Melanie

It’s going to take a miracle for anyone to win a British gold in track and field at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Colin Jackson

I am flattered to be honoured personally in this way; and I am pleased at the prospect of making a wider contribution to British national life in the Lords [on receiving a peerage]
John Birt

Well, I don’t know who the great British public think cleans out the loo in the Hamilton household, but I can tell you, it’s not Neil.
Christine Hamilton

A major rugby tour by the British Isles to New Zealand is a cross between a medieval crusade and a prep school outing.
John Hopkins

I could have closed down bits of British Home Stores to make more money but it’s not my style. I want to make my money as a retailer, not by putting people out of work.
Philip Green

They must be getting pissed off.
Shane MacGowan

I love the fact British men act cool whatever the situation so I’m planning to recruit there.
Sharon Stone

I do not wonder that British youth is in revolt against the morbid doctrine that nothing matters but the equal sharing of miseries; that what used to be called the submerged tenth can only be rescued by bringing the other nine-tenths down to their le.
Winston Churchill

Sheep are not considered the most intelligent animals but British scientist say humans may have underestimated the woolly creatures. In fact, the British scientific community is even suggesting that the animals might even be “Irish-smart.”
Jon Stewart

While the demand for organic food outstrips supply, we happen to know that 77 percent of consumers don’t want genetically engineered crops grown in this country. Consumers can choose whether or not to buy organic produce. Genetically modified ingredients will deny us choice in the long run.
Prince Charles

It’s a great myth that the British public want our soldiers to be sent into harm’s way on a bogus prospectus for ignoble reasons. There is nothing patriotic about that. It is the opposite of patriotism.
George Galloway