Uk Quotes

“here’s a toast to Alan Turing
born in harsher, darker times
who thought outside the container
and loved outside the lines
and so the code-breaker was broken
and we’re sorry
yes now the s-word has been spoken
the official conscience woken
– very carefully scripted but at least it’s not encrypted –
and the story does suggest
a part 2 to the Turing Test:
1. can machines behave like humans?
2. can we?”
― Matt Harvey

“There is no moral difference between a Stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. They both kill innocent people for political reasons.”
― Tony Benn

“I am very flattered. I have also become a verb as in "I have cumberbatched the UK audience" apparently. Who knows, by the end of the year I might become a swear word too! It's crazy and fun and very flattering.”
― Benedict Cumberbatch

“England and America are two countries separated by the same language.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“A generation of the unteachable is hanging upon us like a necklace of corpses.”
― George Orwell

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

“I'm not working-class: I come from the criminal classes.”
― Peter O'Toole

“Archbishop. Why do I never read the lesson?”

“I beg your pardon, ma’am?”

“In church. Everybody else gets to read and one never does. It’s not laid down, is it? It’s not off-limits?”

“Not that I’m aware, ma’am.”

“Good. Well in that case I’m going to start. Leviticus, here I come. Goodnight.”

The archbishop shook his head and went back to Strictly Come Dancing.”
― Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

“It is the principal paradox of this period that the only sphere of our economic system in which government intervention is urgently necessary is also the only point at which action of the State is now effectively inhibited. It is in the region of wages and prices that we really require the continual economic leadership of government, but in our prevailing trade structure any such suggestion has come to be regarded as impious.”
― Oswald Mosley

“[об американцах]
— Я понимаю, они — туристы, не отличающиеся очень уж развитым воображением. Вспоминаю, как училась там в школе. Ребята там казались мне гораздо более открытыми, по крайней мере в том, что касалось личных пристрастий. Всегда рассказывали, что чувствуют.
— Да дело вовсе не в том, что они об этом не рассказывают.
— А в том, что недостаточно чувствуют?
— Да и не в этом тоже. Недостаточно знают. Не позволяют себе много знать. Как с этим Грамши, о котором ты говорила. — Он помолчал и добавил: — Всё всегда делают по правилам.
Джейн помолчала немного.
— Питер писал о чём-то вроде этого в одном из писем. Как вначале тебе нравится их прямота… а потом начинаешь тосковать по извивам.
— Я испытал то же самое. Прозрачность — прекрасная вещь. Пока не начинаешь понимать, что она основана не столько на внутренней честности, сколько на отсутствии воображения. И эта их так называемая откровенность по поводу секса. Они просто не понимают, что утратили.”
― John Fowles, Daniel Martin

“it’s easy to forget that England is made up of many Englands”
― Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other

“I am a British guy living in the USA.”
― Steven Magee

“I am a British guy with a USA family.”
― Steven Magee

“I am a British guy with a USA passport.”
― Steven Magee

“Despite habitual protests by civil servants and politicians that no such process is under way, the tortured and slow death of Internet privacy in the West, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, is a sad – albeit visible – reality and is probably inevitable.”
― Misha Glenny, DarkMarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You

“Lei insegna all’università, vero? E quindi conosce William Blake.” “Sì, lo conosco un po’. Più come artista che come scrittore, a essere sincera.” “Quella sua poesia, Jerusalem... è molto bella, ma mi sconcerta.” “Come mai?” “And was Jerusalem builded here. Dice così, no? Ma non esiste la parola ‘builded’. Non è la parola giusta.” “No, non lo è, ma ‘builded’ funziona meglio in quel verso.” Mr Hu ci rifletté su e poi sorrise con ammirazione. “Vede, è questo che mi piace degli inglesi. Tutti vi credono un popolo affidabile, conservatore. Ma poi rompete sempre le regole. Se vi serve per ottenere ciò che volete, non vi fate alcun problema.” Rise felice. “Persino William Blake l’ha fatto.”
― Jonathan Coe, Middle England

“Com’è il morale? In generale”.
“Il morale è... eccellente,” disse Nigel, deglutendo con forza. “È un periodo interessantissimo, naturalmente. La Gran Bretagna è a un punto di svolta e noi siamo proprio nell’epicentro... nell’epicentro del turbine che sta... trasfigurando la realtà politica, indirizzandola verso uno sviluppo... decisamente sismico in cui... le placche tettoniche della nostra storia nazionale si stanno spostando, con il risultato di provocare una trasformazione... e io, in qualità di testimone...”
All’improvviso si interruppe. Il suo sguardo si perse nel vuoto. Le spalle si afflosciarono. Per un minuto o due rimase a fissare la superficie schiumosa del suo caffè. Alla fine tornò ad alzare gli occhi e le sue successive parole furono le più sincere che Douglas avesse mai sentito uscire dalle sue labbra.
“Siamo fottuti.”
“Prego?”
“Siamo completamente e irrimediabilmente fottuti. È un caos. Corriamo di qua e di là come polli decapitati. Nessuno ha la più pallida idea di quello che sta facendo. Siamo... siamo fottuti.”
Rapidamente Doug tirò fuori il cellulare e cominciò a registrare.
“È ufficiale?” chiese.
“Che importa? Siamo fottuti, perciò che senso ha sapere se è ufficiale?”
“Che tipo di caos? Chi corre di qua e di là come un pollo decapitato?”
“Tutti. Nessuno escluso. Chi si aspettava un esito simile? Nessuno era pronto. Nessuno sa cosa sia la Brexit. Nessuno sa come attuarla. Un anno e mezzo fa tutti la chiamavano Brixit. Nessuno sa cosa voglia dire Brexit.”
“Pensavo che Brexit significasse Brexit.”
“Divertente. E come dovrebbe essere questa Brexit?”
“Una Brexit rossa, bianca e blu, come dice la May,” citò Doug e di nuovo si dispiacque per Nigel, così infelice. “Ma di sicuro ci saranno frotte di consiglieri... esperti?...”
“Esperti?” disse Nigel con amarezza. “Non crediamo più negli esperti. La catena di comando è semplicissima. Ciascuno riceve le sue direttive da Theresa, e Theresa le riceve dal ‘Daily Mail’. E anche da un paio di think tank così fanatici del libero scambio che non li lasceresti...”
“Questi think tank...” disse Doug incuriosito. “Non mi dirai che una di loro è l’Imperium Foundation, vero?”
“Mio Dio,” disse Nigel, la testa tra le mani. “Sono dappertutto... dappertutto. Sempre pronti a indire riunioni. A bombardarci di tabelle. Dimenticati della volontà del popolo. Sono questi i pazzi che hanno preso il potere.”
“Cameron avrebbe saputo fronteggiarli meglio, secondo te?”
“Cameron?” disse Nigel con una smorfia. “Un fesso di prima categoria! Un moccioso! Un coglione fatto e finito. Se ne sta nel suo capanno del cazzo a scrivere le sue memorie. Guarda che disastro si è lasciato alle spalle. Tutti pronti a pugnalarsi alle spalle. Gli stranieri vengono insultati per la strada. Aggrediti sull’autobus. Invitati a tornarsene da dove sono venuti. Se uno non riga dritto, ecco che subito diventa un traditore e un nemico del popolo. Cameron ha demolito questo paese, Doug. L’ha demolito ed è scappato.”
― Jonathan Coe, Middle England

“I used to know where I was going but as I get older I just seem to arrive there!”
― David Hodges, Witch Fire on the Levels

“What I see from this window are houses, in their swarm of linearity.”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“The world separates. Night coagulates.”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“The earth is closing itself like a butterfly on us.”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“The night is strong in its taxidermy on earth. The parts-dark, parts-bleached.”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“I am a ‘Made In UK’ type of guy.”
― Steven Magee

“Like many children, I had a telescope from a young age. I was familiar with some constellations and the moon and planets. I always enjoyed looking up at the night sky and seeing the few stars up there in the orange sky in Liverpool, UK. The streetlights made it hard to see much of the night sky in Liverpool. I always enjoyed my camping trips to rural Wales because there were few streetlights and the night sky was actually black! It was a very different night sky, far more stars and the cloud of the Milky Way could be seen.”
― Steven Magee, Magee’s Disease

“I never thought about a job in astronomy until I saw a job advert advertising one. It was in the Canary Islands, working for the UK Government’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). Wow! That sounded so cool! I applied, got flown out for an interview on the island and took the job. I felt like I had won the lottery, as I was being paid to do something I was interested in and living on the beautiful island of La Palma. I started my career fixing broken vacuum cleaners at the city hospital, it was quite a change!”
― Steven Magee, Magee’s Disease

“Sweets or the beats!”
― Steven Magee

“America is no longer a real country. It’s a reality TV set. The UK, the effective 51st State of America, isn’t far behind. China isn’t mired in superhero culture. It’s obsessed with making itself truly great. The USA and the UK are up to their necks in their demented fantasies. They have a comic-book psyche. Superhero stories and deranged conspiracy theories are the only things they understand. It’s all coming down. It’s all falling apart. Mad beliefs produce mad people, and a mad people is a doomed people. Enough of superheroes. The people themselves must become the heroes, or it’s game over.”
― David Sinclair, Superheroes and Presidents: How Absurd Stories Have Poisoned the American Mind

“I was connected to the Queen through my medical work.”
― Steven Magee

“London is often confused with England. The English also live in London but they are only one of the communities which inhabit a true world city.”
― M.J. Akbar, Have Pen, Will Travel: Observations of a Globetrotter

“History was always present for Churchill. He understood, perhaps, that the essence of history is the present, for the present is nothing other than what the past has made it, only those most essential elements of the past being retained in the present. That is what makes them essential. One’s understanding of the past is therefore a constituent part of one’s understanding of current events and a guide as to how to act in it.”
― Stephen Bungay, The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain