Englishness Quotes

We are Englishmen; that is one good fact.

A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager.

In this war I am completely English.

I'm English, definitely. I don't feel like I'm American in any way.

I know my own heart to be entirely English.

I'm not sure what's going on in Britain. I don't know what's going on in London. Because London is no longer an English city, and that's how they got the Olympics. I mean, they said, "We're the most cosmopolitan city on Earth," but it doesn't feel English.

I was born in Wales but I'm not Welsh - I'm English.

I never felt totally, 100%, patriotically English... I'd seen a lot of the world by an early age - sort of spent a lot of time traveling around Lebanon and I'd seen Babylon, and Damascus, and all sorts of places in the Middle East by the time I was ten. Then we'd return to Ruslip in West London... Done a fair bit of traveling really.

Every Englishman is convinced of one thing, viz.: That to be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is.

I found that Scottishness and Englishness are actually strong, instinctive things, whatever the historical reasons. Even the accent changes - just two inches across the border.

But the English are different, and they don't know how to be other than different.

Because I am an Englishman I spent most of my life in a state of embarrassment.

Hats are the epitome of Englishness, and a royal wedding is the penultimate moment for a hat designer. I'm Irish, but I am a royalist and I believe in fantasy.

We like being English, but we're not that patriotic.

I'm English. And I don't have tan skin or blond hair or green eyes.

The fact is, I loved being English. I was very happy to be turned into an English schoolboy.

I think it's OK to play to your strengths, and if I have a quality of Englishness that people like, I won't hide that. I'm probably not going to play a junkie and that's OK because there are other people who will do it better. A view that's been held for a long time is that the best way to prove oneself as an actor is to play the grittiest roles out there. I don't agree with that.

Here, whatever is not boring is not English.

There is a certain ancient civility about tailors that is welcome - especially in modern London, which is now very much an international city, not an English city. They're still a little vessel of Englishness in what is otherwise a pretty rambunctious place.

I think my films are very English. That certain emotional distance, interest in the world, interest in irony. These are all deeply English propositions.

The only people who should play for England are English people.

After spending so much time in America, I started travelling with 'In Defence of English Cooking' by George Orwell. It's archaic and old-fashioned in its Englishness and reminds me of home.

There is no second country for an Englishman, except a ship and the sea.

As much as the glasses, it's the Englishness and the gangliness. The apparent lack of muscularity... they indicate I'm not a macho man.

If you met me in London, you might be appalled at how English I sounded.