United Kingdom: Difference between revisions - Wikiquote

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[[File:EU-United Kingdom.svg|thumb|Map of the United Kingdom]]

[[File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|thumb|Britain is a complex harmony, not a male voice choir. ~ [[David Cameron]]]]

The [[w:United Kingdom|'''United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland''']] ('''UK'''), commonly known as the '''United Kingdom''' ('''UK''') or '''Britain''', is a [[w:sovereign state|sovereign country]] in north-western [[Europe]], off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of [[w:Great Britain|Great Britain]], the north-eastern part of the island of [[Ireland]], and [[w:List of islands of the United Kingdom|many smaller islands]] within the [[w:British Isles|British Isles]]. [[Northern Ireland]] shares [[w:Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border|a land border]] with the [[Republic of Ireland]], and Great Britain has road and rail links with [[France]] via the [[w:Channel_Tunnel|Channel Tunnel]]. The United Kingdom consists of [[w:Countries of the United Kingdom|four countries]]: [[England]], [[Scotland]], [[Wales]] and [[Northern Ireland]]. The capital is [[London]], a [[w:global city|global city]] and [[w:financial centre|financial centre]] with an urban area population of 10.3 million. The national language of the United Kingdom is [[English language|English]]. Its current head of state is [[Charles III]], its current head of government is Prime Minister [[Rishi Sunak]], and its [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] is currently controlled by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]].

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==Quotes==

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[[File:George III (by Allan Ramsay).jpg|thumb|But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of [[w:Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]]. ~ [[Thomas Paine]]]]

[[File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg|thumb|A British vessel, stopping on the way back from India at the Comoro Islands in the Mozambique Channel, finds the native inhabitants in revolt against their Arab masters; and when they ask why they have taken arms, are told, "America is free, could not we be?" ~ [[w:Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp|Gijsbert Karel, Count van Hogendorp]]]]

* Whether it is [[North Korea]], [[w:Sierra_Leone|Sierra Leone]], or [[Zimbabwe]], we’ll show that poor countries are poor for the same reason that [[Egypt]] is poor. Countries such as Great Britain and the [[United States]] became rich because their [[Citizenship|citizens]] overthrew the [[Elite|elites]] who controlled [[power]] and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where the [[government]] was accountable and responsive to citizens, and where the great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities. We’ll show that to understand why there is such [[inequality]] in the world today we have to delve into the past and study the historical dynamics of societies. We’ll see that the reason that Britain is richer than Egypt is because in 1688, Britain (or England, to be exact) had a [[Glorious Revolution|revolution]] that transformed the [[Politics of the United Kingdom|politics]] and thus the [[economics]] of the nation. People fought for and won more [[political rights]], and they used them to expand their economic opportunities. The result was a fundamentally different political and economic trajectory, culminating in the [[Industrial Revolution]].

** [[w:Daron_Acemoglu|Daron Acemoglu]] and [[w:James_A._Robinson|James A. Robinson]], ''Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty'' (2012)

* Dear land of [[hope]], thy hope is crowned! [[God]] make thee mightier yet... By truth maintained, thine [[empire]] shall be strong... Land of hope and glory, mother of the free! How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee? God, who made thee mighty? Make thee mightier yet.

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** [[Winston Churchill]], to [[Neville Chamberlain]] in the House of Commons, after the Munich accords (1938)

*We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in [[France]], we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the [[Royal Navy|British Fleet]], would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the [[New World]], with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.

** [[Winston Churchill]], speech in the House of Commons (4 June 1940)

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**[[Benjamin Creme]], [[The World Teacher for All Humanity|''The World Teacher for All Humanity'']] (2007)

*The [[George W. Bush|US President]] said that US [[freedom]] was being threatened by a little state called [[Iraq]]. It had no [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|weapons of mass destruction]]... The whole thing is absurd.... Believing that Iraq was a threat to America is believing in a nonsense. For [[Tony Blair|Mr Blair]] to persuade the [[British people]] and about one-third of [[w:Labour_Party_(UK)|his own party]] that Britain was threatened by Iraq is again a complete, utter nonsense. It is just not true. p. 73

**[[Benjamin Creme]], [[The World Teacher for All Humanity|''The World Teacher for All Humanity'']] (2007)

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**[[Angela Davis]] December 13 2013 speech included in ''Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement'' (2015)

*Look at [[England]], whose mighty power is now felt, and for centuries has been felt, all around the world. It is worthy of special remark, that precisely those parts of [[w:Great Britain|that proud island]] which have received the largest and most diversified populations, are to day the parts most distinguished for industry, enterprise, invention and general enlightenment. In [[Wales]], and in the [[w:Scottish Highlands|Highlands of Scotland]] the boast is made of their pure blood, and that they were never conquered, but no man can contemplate them without wishing they had been conquered. They are far in the rear of every other part of the English realm in all the comforts and conveniences of life, as well as in mental and physical development. Neither law nor learning descends to us from the mountains of Wales or from the Highlands of [[Scotland]]. The [[w:Celtic Britons|ancient Briton]], whom [[Julius Caesar]] would not have as a [[Slavery|slave]], is not to be compared with the round, burly, amplitudinous [[English people|Englishman]] in many of his qualities of desirable manhood.

**[[Frederick Douglass]], [http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/our-composite-nationality/ "Our Composite Nationality"] (7 December 1869), Boston, Massachusetts

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** [[Christopher Hitchens]], [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2009/06/persian_paranoia.html "Persian Paranoia: Iranian leaders will always believe Anglo-Saxons are plotting against them"], ''Slate'' (June 22, 2009).

* <p>In addition to relative indifference to the fate of the [[Eurozone|euro]] area]], Britain is more protected because of speculation the [[w:Bank_of_England|central bank]] may intervene directly to finance the [[debt]] ... [[Europe]] is not a cash box, let alone a cashpoint...</p><p>The British have been particularly shy about the issues of financial [[regulation]], and attentive only to the interests of the [[City of London|City]] – hence their reluctance to see the introduction of a tax on financial transactions and tax harmonisation in Europe.</p>

**[[François Hollande]], [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141040/Francois-Hollande-French-president-says-Britain-cares-City.html "New French leader fires a broadside at Britain: You only care about the City of London, says President Hollande"] (8 May 2012), ''Daily Mail''

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**[[Paul Keating]], [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/10/it-would-make-a-cat-laugh-key-moments-from-paul-keatings-national-press-club-appearance 'It would make a cat laugh’: key moments from Paul Keating’s National Press Club appearance, ''The Guardian''] (November 10, 2021)

*We weren’t taught [[Shakespeare]] or [[Milton]] in order to understand our own situation—they were taught as the jewels in [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria’sVictoria]]’s crown. The point of the [[Colonialism|colonial enterprise]] was that it had all these people to control. Our education was about imprinting on us the greatness of England, the idea that the people who could produce these works were of a superior kind of people...I came to understand that I should separate Shakespeare and all of the rest from [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli]] and [[Horatio Nelson]]—that the British Empire is one thing and literature another. I’ll take everything except [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling]]. [[Wordsworth]] would have been very upset to know that his wonderful [[Poetry|poems]] were being used as a weapon of empire.

**[[Jamaica Kincaid]] [https://theparisreview.org/interviews/7879/the-art-of-fiction-no-252-jamaica-kincaid Interview] with ''The Paris Review'' (2022)

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** ''The Knoxville Journal'' (9 February 1896), as quoted in [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wwzqAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=peter+hays+gries&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HwpZVazmK_LW7Qan_YH4CQ&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=peter%20hays%20gries&f=false "The Politics of American Foreign Policy"] by [[w:Peter Heys Gries|Peter Heys Gries]], p. 170

* England is an amazing and paradoxical country; there are, in spite of the great emphasis upon "[[democracy]]," all indications of the existence of an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] and [[Oligarchy|oligarchic]] rule, yet this generally recognized fact caused little if any human resentment among the ''lower'' classes. […] The tacit and genuine, human ''acceptance'' of aristocratic or at least [[Ruling class|upper class leadership]] gives Britain the right to call itself a "democracy" without being one in reality. Hierarchic feelings always were very strong in England, but the extreme elasticity of the class system has always mitigated the apprehensions if aroused. Nowhere are classes more receptive to new elements, nowhere is it easier to rise socially, yet nowhere are the differences between the classes so marked as in England (with the exception of India and certain sections of the United States).

** [[Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn]], ''The Menace of the Herd'' (1943), p. 218

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**[[Osama bin Laden]], regarding Operation Desert Fox (December 1998), as quoted in [http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,17676,00.html ''Time'' magazine interview] (23 December 1998)

*The [[European Union]] and many of its countries, which used to take initiatives in the [[United Nations]] for [[Conflict resolution|peaceful settlements of conflict]], are now one of the most important war assets of the [[NATO|U.S./NATO front]]. Many countries have also been drawn into complicity in breaking [[international law]] through [[w:Category:WarsWar involvingon NATOterror|U.S./U.K./NATO wars]] in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on.

**[[Mairead Maguire]] in [https://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/14/disturbing-expansion-military-industrial-complex "The Disturbing Expansion of the Military-Industrial Complex"], ''Common Dreams'' (14 October 2014)

* The British [[Tourism|tourist]] is always happy abroad as long as the natives are waiters.

** [[Robert Morley]], ''The Observer'' (20 April 1958), as quoted in [https://books.google.com/books?id=OdBEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22The+British+tourist+is+always+happy+abroad+as+long+as+the+natives+are+waiters.%22&dq=%22The+British+tourist+is+always+happy+abroad+as+long+as+the+natives+are+waiters.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AmQVVcLmHs7YggTFxYHYCw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBQ ''More Caviar''] (1959), by Art Buchwald. Harper, p. 54

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** [[Plutarch]], as quoted in ''The Life of [[Julius Caesar]]''

* The whole existence and development of [[capitalism]] in Britain and France between 1885 and 1960 was bound up with [[colonization]], and [[Africa]] played a major role. [[Colonisation of Africa|African colonies]] meant surplus appropriated on a grand scale; they led to innovations and forward leaps in [[technology]] and the organization of capitalist [[enterprise]]; and they buttressed the capitalist system at home and abroad with [[Soldiers|fighting men]]. Sometimes, it appeared that these two principal colonial powers reaped so many colonial benefits that they suffered from “too much of a good thing.”

** [[Walter Rodney]], ''How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'' (1972), p. 189

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** [[James Thomson (poet)|James Thomson]], ''Alfred: a Masque, II, V.''

*The British have always fought, to be sure. No [[Nations|nation]] on [[Earth]] can be taken seriously in historical circles unless it has had at least one [[war]] with the British; it's like not having an [[w:American_Express|American Express]] card. And yet the very idea of Britain in a contemporary war is a shock. Britain, one feels, fights in [[history]] [[books]] and not on [[Television|TV]].

** [[Gene Wolfe]], "A Few Points About knife Throwing", ''Fantasy Newsletter'' (1983), as reprinted in Gene Wolfe, ''Castle of Days'' (1992)