British Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old british quotes, british sayings, and british proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Anything said in upper-crust British automatically sounded intelligent. Nancy Kress
The British nation is unique in this respect: they are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst. Winston S. Churchill
The British have always been madly overambitious, and from one angle it can seem like bravery, but from another it looks suspiciously like a lack of foresight. Ben Aaronovitch
Many British people of different faiths follow religious codes and practices and benefit a great deal from the guidance they offer. Theresa May
The British people think that if someone is disabled, then they should get all the care and support that we can offer. George Osborne
The British have chosen liberty with Brexit and can congratulate themselves every day. Marine Le Pen
British aren't really known for their physical loveliness but firemen, generally speaking, are gorgeous. Emma Thompson
British people don't express when they are in pain. They don't think it's elegant. Monica Bellucci
The British people are good all through. You can test them as you would put a bucket into the sea and always find it salt. Winston Churchill
The British are special. The world knows it. In our innermost thoughts we know it. This is the greatest nation on earth. Tony Blair
The British love permanence more than they love beauty. Hugh Casson
A British villain never loses their sense of humour. Tom Hooper
We The British have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy. Winston Churchill
The British like any kind of music so long as it is loud. Thomas Beecham
British girls are as temperamental as Americans. Ivor Novello
The British needlewoman follows blindly where the merchant leads. Ann Macbeth
The British are brave people. They can face anything, except reality. George Mikes
British people would die for their right to drink themselves to death. John Oliver
The British power is the overlord without whom Indian princes cannot breathe. Mahatma Gandhi
The British were sporting. They would accept a fight under almost all conditions. Gunther Rall
The British are weak in numbers, we are weak in spite of our numbers. Mahatma Gandhi
The British are so incestuous. They pass around partners like they're passing popcorn at a movie. Cameron Díaz
The British countryside is threatened by people and interests who really do not care for it. Simon Jenkins
The British have always coped without becoming a dictatorship. Frederick Forsyth
The British retreat is over and now the advance will begin. William Hague
British humour is very cruel. It's my favourite kind of humour; if it isn't cruel and funny it doesn't really cut the cake for me. Jason Sellards
The British who rarely start a fight, but always know how to finish it have nothing to be ashamed of. Tony Parsons
All British people have plain names, and that works pretty well over there. Paris Hilton
British education is probably the best in the world, if you can survive it. If you can't there is nothing left for you but the diplomatic corps. Peter Ustinov
The British feel of blues has been hard, rather than emotional. Far too much emphasis on 12 bar, too little attention to words, far too little originality. Alexis Korner
If I should die, think only this of me: / That there’s some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England. Rupert Brooke
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. Samuel Johnson
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North, / The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth; / Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, / The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. Robert Burns
The English certainly and fiercely pride themselves in never praising themselves. Wyndham Lewis
Growing up in the English countryside, I feel like I’m in a Jane Austen novel when I walk around. Lily Collins
I live in the English countryside, so I’m surrounded by magpies. Kenneth Branagh
The British do not expect happiness. I had the impression, all the time that I lived there, that they do not want to be happy; they want to be right. Quentin Crisp
Amazing what the British do with language; the nuances of politeness. The world's great diplomats, surely. Anne Rice
I do like the sound of the name, 'Big Ben'... it has a certain ring to it. Martin H. Samuel
I think London’s sexy because it’s so full of eccentrics. Rachel Weisz
The English never draw a line without blurring it. Winston Churchill
Their will was resolute and remorseless, and as it proved, unconquerable. It fell to me to express it. Winston Churchill
I see it is said that leaders should keep their ears to the ground. All I can say is that the British nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are detected in that somewhat ungainly posture. Winston Churchill
However British you may be, I am more British still. Henry James
This is where I grew up. This is where I started life. This is my country and when I put on a Great Britain vest I'm proud. I'm very proud. Mo Farah
I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else — I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations. Queen Elizabeth II
To many, no doubt, he will seem to be somewhat blatant and bumptious, but we prefer to regard him as being simply British. Oscar Wilde
The world is a place on which England is found. G. K. Chesterton
You think the Welsh are friendly, but the Irish are fabulous. Bonnie Tyler
Be blind. Be stupid. Be British. Be careful. Virginia Graham
There are only three things against living in Britain: the place, the climate and the people. Jimmy Edwards
The ability for us to laugh at ourselves is Britain's saving grace. Martin Parr
In Britain, a cup of tea is the answer to every problem. Fallen off your bicycle? Nice cup of tea. David Walliams
The maxim of the British people is business as usual. Winston Churchill
My children are not royal; They just happen to have the Queen for their aunt. Princess Margaret
It took me 20 years of studied self-restraint, aided by the natural decay of my faculties, to make myself dull enough to be accepted as a serious person by the British public. George Bernard Shaw
An Irishman fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order of precedence, but will do either to accommodate his customers. Charles Caleb Colton
Life is unliveable to them unless they have tea and puddings. George Orwell
I think the British have the distinction above all other nations of being able to put new wine into old bottles without bursting them. Clement Attlee
There's nothing the British like better than a bloke who comes from nowhere, makes it, and then gets clobbered. Melvyn Bragg
Lloyd George would have a better rating in British mythology if he had shared the fate of Abraham Lincoln. John Grigg
The British Constitution has always been puzzling and always will be. Queen Elizabeth II