Englishman

If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreigntroopwaslanded inmycountry,Inever would lay down my armsöneveröneverönever!

—Pitt,William, 1st Earl of Chatham known as  the Elder

He was as thorough an Englishman as ever coveted his neighbour's goods† [He was] chief professor of Necrobioneopalaeonthydrochthonanthropopithek- ology.

—Kingsley, Charles

I would have run to him, only I was a coward in the presence of such a moböwould have embraced him, only, he being an Englishman, I did not know how he would receive me; so I did what cowardice and false pride suggested was the best thingöwalked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said: 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?' 'Yes,'said he, with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly. I replace my hat on my head, and he puts on his cap, and we both grasp hands, and I then sayaloud: 'I thank God,Doctor, I have been permitted to see you.' He answered,'I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you.'

—Stanley, Sir Henry Morton originally John Rowlands

It is not that the Englishman can't feelöit is that he is afraid to feel.

—Forster, E(dward) M(organ)

You never find an Englishman among the under- dogsöexcept in England, of course.

—Waugh, Evelyn Arthur StJohn

I am sincere; and my intentions are perfectly honourable. I think you will accept the fact that I'm an Englishman as a guarantee that I am not a man to act hastily or romantically.

—Shaw, George Bernard

An Englishman does not joke about such an important matter as a bet.

—Verne,Jules

As an Englishman does not travel to see Englishmen, I retired to my room.

—Sterne, Laurence

I know an Englishman Being flattered, is a lamb; threatened, a lion.

—Chapman, George

There is nothing so bad or so good that you will not find Englishmen doing it; but you will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles; he bullies you on manly principles; he supportshiskingon loyal principles and cuts off hishead on republican principles.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Into the face of the young man†had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French.

—Plum

Jeder Engl a« nder ist eine Insel. Every Englishman is an island.

—Novalis pseudonym of  Friedrich von Hardenberg

Let us pause to consider the English, Who when they pause to consider themselves they get all reticently thrilled and tinglish, Because every Englishman is convinced of one thing, viz.: That to be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is.

—Nash, (Frederic) Ogden

The Englishman never enjoys himself except for a noble purpose.

—Herbert, SirA(lan) P(atrick)

   A land may be said to be discovered the first time a European, presumably an Englishman, sets foot on it.

—Stefansson,Vilhjalmur

That vast portion†of the working-class which, raw and half-developed has long lain half-hidden amidst its poverty and squalor, and is now issuing from its hiding- place to assert an Englishman's heaven-born privilege of doing as he likes, and is beginning to perplex us by marching where it likes, meeting where it likes, bawling what it likes,breaking what it likesötothisvast residuum we may with great propriety give the name of Populace.

—Arnold, Matthew

To fight for the right, to abhor the imperfect, the unjust, or the mean, to swerve neither to the right hand nor the left, to care nothing for flattery or applause or odium or abuseöit is so easy to have any of them in Indiaönever to let your enthusiasm be soured or your courage grow dim but to remember that the Almighty has placed your hand on the greatest of his ploughs, in whose furrow the nations of the future are germinating and taking shape, to drive the blade a little forward in your time and to feel that somewhere among those millions you have left, a little justice, or happiness or prosperity, a sense of manliness or moral dignity, a springof patriotism, a dawn of intellectual enlightenmentora stirringofduty whereit did not exist beforeöthat is enough, that is the Englishman's justification in India.

—Curzon (of Kedleston), Lord George Nathaniel

An Englishman's never so natural as when he's holding his tongue.

—James, Henry

I never met anyone in Ireland who understood the Irish question, except one Englishman who had been there only a week.

—Fraser, Major Sir Keith Alexander

An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Even an Englishman was niver improved by bein' blown up.

—Dunne, Finley Peter

No little lily-handed baronet he, A great broad-shouldered genial Englishman, A lord of fat prize-oxen and of sheep, A raiser of huge melons and of pine, A patron of some thirty charities, A pamphleteer on guano and on grain.

—Tennyson

Give but an Englishman his whore and ease, Beef and a sea-coal fire, he's yours forever.

—Otway,Thomas

The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it soundslike.It isimpossible foran Englishmanto openhis mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.

—Shaw, George Bernard

The last great Englishman is low.

—Tennyson

When you see how in this happy country the lowest and poorest member of society takes an interest in all public affairs; when you see how high and low, rich and poor, are all willing to declare their feelings and convictions; when you see howa carter, a common sailor, a beggar is still a man, nay, even more, an Englishmanöthen, believe me, you find yourself very differently affected fromtheexperienceyoufeelwhenstaring atoursoldiers drilling in Berlin.

—Moritz, Karl Philipp

No Englishman is ever fairly beaten.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Madam, there are fifty thousand men slain this year in Europe, and not one an Englishman.

—Walpole, Sir Robert, 1st Earl of Orford

The Knight in the triumph of his heart made several 6 reflections on thegreatness of the British Nation; as, that one Englishman could beat three Frenchmen; that we could never be in danger of Popery so long as we took care of our fleet; that theThames was thenoblest river in Europe; that London Bridge was a greater piece of work than any of the Seven Wonders of the World; with many other honest prejudices which naturally cleave to the heart of a true Englishman.

—Addison,Joseph

Shakespeare onegets acquainted with without knowing how. It is part of an Englishman's constitution. His thoughts and beauties are so spread abroad that one touches them everywhere, one is intimate with him by instinct.

—Austen,Jane

Life isn't all beer and skittlesöbut beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education.

—Hughes,Ted (Edward James)

Tryas one may to stress the cultural and historical role of the place†it still conveys one overwhelmingly powerful image to your average Englishman: the dirty weekend.

—Smith, Godfrey

In spite of all temptations To belong to other nations, He remains an Englishman!

—Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)

Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.

—Rhodes, Cecil John

  Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be instilled into your children, that the liberty of the press is the Palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman.

—'Junius' possibly the pseudonym of  Sir Philip Francis

The poor silly-clever Irishman takes off his hat to God's Englishman.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Of historyand its consequences it may be said: 'Those who can, gloat; those who can't, brood.' Englishmen are born gloaters; Irishmen born brooders. There are, it is true, brooders who take to gloating, and they did much to build the Empire.Yet the brooder-gloater, such as the Irishman turned Englishman, is not, as a human type, altogether a success. He is a little too much on his guard, like an excessivelyassimilated Jew, or a son of Harlem who has decided to'pass'. The past of the Irishman, the Jew, the Negro, is, psychologically, too explosive to be buried.

—Cruise

From this amphibious ill-born mob began That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.

—Defoe, Daniel

How can what an Englishman believes be heresy? It is a contradiction in terms.

—Shaw, George Bernard