We British are an aggressive nation.We seem to have become more violent this last decade: look how we drive fast and furious, with fists clenched; listen, at the stadiums, how the crowds shout,'Kick his fuckin' head in,'or to the sirens of police cars and ambulances in the shoddy streets of Brixton or Liverpool.

-Abse, Dannie
  Journals from the Ant-Heap,'Appendix1:  Authors Take Sides'.

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
  In The Spectator, no.383, 20 May.

The British'Sphere of Influence'öthe cricket ball.

-Anonymous
Mr Punch's Book of Sport.

The Frenchwant to attack, the Americans want to bomb, and the British want to have another meeting.

-Anonymous
  US diplomat commenting on the war in Bosnia. Quoted by William Safire in the NewYork Times, 27  Jul.

British music is in a state of perpetual promise. It might almost be said to be one long promissory note.

-Beecham, SirThomas
Quoted in Harold  Atkins and  Archie Newman Beecham Stories (1978).

The British have long had a taste for bad books, but they like them well written.

-Bradbury, Malcolm Stanley
  In the Observer, 25 Oct.

Conversation is never easy for the British, who are never keen to express themselves to strangers or, for that matter, anyone, even themselves.

-Bradbury, Malcolm Stanley
  Rates of Exchange, pt.5, ch.3.

Well,British Public, ye who like me not, (God love you!)

-Browning, Robert
^9  The Ring and the Book, bk.1, l.410

It sometimes occurs to me that the British have more heritage than isgood for them.

-Bryson, Bill
  Notes from a Small Island.

I found myself growing increasingly irritated with the notion of a British novel, which was really an irritation with the word British, a grey, unsatisfactory, bad- weather kind of word, a piece of linguistic compromise.

-Buford, Bill (William Holmes)
  Editorial, Granta, no.43.

The people Hitler never understood, and whose actions continued to exasperate him to the end of his life, were the British.

-Buller, A(rthur) H(enry) Reginald
  Hitler:  A Study in Tyranny.

Would a special relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be inconsistent with our overriding loyalty to the world organization?

-Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer
  Speech at Fulton, Missouri, Mar.

The majority of the British public have no regard or no respect for what me and my peers doto the point where theyactually laugh at a disaster like a fire.

-Emin,Tracey
   After some of her work (and the work of other contemporary artists) was destroyed in a fire in London. Quoted in The Scotsman, 31 May.

No one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute.

-Gallagher, Noel
  In the NewYork Times,14  Jan.

Why are you telling me this? The British won't fight.

-Galtieri, Leopoldo Fortunato
  Responding to a warning from US Secretary of State Alexander Haig about the consequence of the invasion.

The British Empire has advanced to a new conception of autonomyand freedom, to the idea of a system of British nations, each freely ordering its own individual life, but bound together in unity byallegiance to one Crown, and co-operating in all that concerns the common weal.

-GeorgeVI
  Opening, as Duke ofYork, the first  Australian Parliament to assemble in Canberra, 9 May.

Most British statesmen have either drunk too much or womanised too much. I never fell into the second category.

-George-Brown, George (Alfred) Brown, Baron
  In the Observer, Nov.

If the British public falls for this, I say that it will be stark, staring bonkers.

-Hailsham, Quintin (McGarel) Hogg, 2nd Viscount
  Press conference on the Labour electionmanifesto,12 Oct.

  Need I go on? I hate to bite Hands that led me to the limelight In the Penguin book, I regret The awkwardness. But British, no, the name's not right. Yours truly, Seamus.

-Heaney, SeamusJustin
  'An Open Letter to Blake and  Andrew, Editors, Contemporary British Verse, Penguin Books, Middlesex'. Heaney was complaining at his inclusion in the book edited by Blake Morrison and  Andrew Motion on the grounds of his Irish nationality.

It is very uncivilised to invade British territory.You are here illegally.

-Hunt, Sir Rex
   Attributed remark to an  Argentinian general. Quoted in Life,  Jan1983.