England

"Ah! la perfide Angleterre!"

"[T]he English Cookes, in comparison with other Nations, are most commended for roasted meates."

"BE IT DECLARED and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authoritie of the same: That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territoryes thereunto England a Commonwealth. belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a Commonwealth and free State And shall from henceforth be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the supreame Authoritie of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliament and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King or House of Lords."

"Where are the rough brave Britons to be found With Hearts of Oak, so much of old renowned?"

"England is a well goodland; in the stead best Set in the one end of the world, and reigneth west. The sea goeth him all about, he stint as an yle."

"The Parliament of England...is that whereupon the very essence of all Government within this Kingdom doth depend; it is even the body of the whole Realm; it consisteth of the King, and of all that within the Land are subject unto him."

"Be favourable and gracious O Lord to this thy English Sion... O Lord we thy Servants humbly beseeche thee, to bless and prosper not only our Sea causes, but also all our land service, her Majesty's most honourable General, Marshal, Captains, Officers, and English soldiers whatsoever, strengthen them with courage and manliness, that they may suppress the slights of Antichrist, with all the force and power of foreign enemies, and papistical practices, that dare pre­sume to attempt any harm or hurt to her royal Majesty, their honours, her English people, or to this noble Realm of England."

"Lords and Commons of England, consider what Nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors: a Nation not slow and dull, but of quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, suttle and sinewy to discours, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that humane capacity can soar to."

"They are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery; vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells."

"England, which is like a huge Fortress or Garrisoned Town, fenced not only with strong Works, her Port-Towns, with a wide and deep Ditch the Sea, but guarded also with excellent Out-Works, the strongest and best-built Ships of War in the World; then so furnisht within with Men and Horse, with Victuals and Ammunition, with Clothes and Money, that if all the Potentates of Europe should conspire (which God forbid) they could hardly distress it."

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

"I hope to render the English name as great and formidable as ever the Roman was."

"Blessed mother, handmaiden of old To Arthur, Edward, Henry, by whose deeds Of valour could their strength of faith be told."

"An Englishman's home is his castle."

"England is a paradise for women, and hell for horses: Italy is a paradise for horses, hell for women."

"When poor England stood alone, and had not the access of another kingdom, and yet had more and as potent enemies as now it hath, and yet the King of England prevailed."

"England is a prison for men, a paradise for women, a purgatory for servants, a hell for horses."

"England is a nation of shopkeepers."

"With lantern jaws, and cooking guy, See how the half-starved Frenchmen strut, And call us English dogs! But soon we'll teach these bragging foes, That beef and beer give heavier blows, Than soup and roasted frogs."

"The courage of bull-dogs and game-cocks seems peculiar to England."

"Let Pitt then boast of his victory to his nation of shopkeepers—(Nation Boutiquiere)."

"I have studied History and seen most of the Republics of Europe, and I do not hesitate to affirm that there is, or has been, no Government upon Earth where the property, and especially the person, of the Subject, is by far so secure as it is [in England]."

"Non seulement l'Angleterre, mais chaque Anglais est une ile."

"Freedom has been haunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England has given her warning to depart."

"Hearts of oak are our ships, Jolly tars are our men, We always are ready, steady, boys, steady, We'll fight and will conquer again and again."

"The enemies of the people of England who would have them considered in the worst light represent them as selfish, beef-eaters, and cruel. In this view I resolved today to be a true-born Old Englishman. I went into the City to Dolly's Steak-house in Paternoster Row and swallowed my dinner by myself to fulfill the charge of selfishness; I had a large fat beef-steak to fulfil the charge of beef-eating; and I went at five o'clock to the Royal Cockpit in St. James's Park and saw cock-fighting for about five hours to fulfill the charge of cruelty."

"[I]n France the people sing to amuse themselves, and here they pass their time in boxing."

"The men of England—the men, I mean of light and leading in England."

"I return you many thanks for the honour you have done me; but Europe is not to be saved by any single man. England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example."

"No man had once a greater veneration for Englishmen than I entertained. They were dear to me as branches of the same parental trunk, and partakers of the same religion and laws."

"The Englishmen understand almost better than any other people the art of properly roasting a joint... which also is not to be wondered at; because the art of cooking as practised by most Englishmen does not extend much beyond roast beef and plum pudding."

"The habeas corpus is the single advantage which our government has over that of other countries."

"English superiority and American obedience."

"God and nature have joined England and Ireland together. It is impossible to separate them."

"All that I can boast of in my birth, is, that I was born in Old England."

"Being sheltered, as it were, within a Citadel, she there reigns over a Nation which is the better entitled to her favours as it endeavours to extend her Empire, and carries with it, to every part of its dominions, the blessings of industry and equality. Fenced in on every side, to use the expressions of Chamberlayne, with a wide and deep ditch, the sea, guarded with strong outworks, its ships of war, and defended by the courage of her Seamen, she preserves that important secret, that sacred fire, so difficult to be kindled, and which, if it were once extinguished, would perhaps never be lighted again. When the World shall have again been laid waste by Conquerors, she will still continue to shew Mankind, not only the principle that ought to unite them, but what is of no less importance, the form under which they ought to be united. And the Philosopher, when he considers the constant fate of civil Societies amongst Men, and observes the numerous and powerful causes which seem as it were unavoidably to conduct them all to a state of incurable political Slavery, takes comfort in seeing that Liberty has at length disclosed her secret to Mankind, and secured an Asylum to herself."

"When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food, It ennobled our veins and enriched our blood. Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good Oh! the Roast Beef of old England, And old English Roast Beef!"

"I shall begin with a very earnest and serious Exhortation to all my well disposed Readers, that they would return to the Food of their Forefathers, and reconcile themselves to Beef and Mutton. This was the Diet which bred that hearty Race of Mortals who won the Fields of Cressy and Agincourt."

"The government of England is a government of law. We betray ourselves, we contradict the spirit of our laws, and we shake the whole system of English jurisprudence, whenever we entrust a discretionary power over the life, liberty, or fortune of the subject to any man, or set of men, whatsoever, upon a presumption that it will not be abused."

"The liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman."

"England is the only country in Europe that can boast of having improved its agriculture and the cultivation of its soil beyond that of any other European nation. The condition of English agriculture, compared with that of our own, is like light contrasted with shade."

"England, with all thy faults, I love thee still— My Country! and, while yet a nook is left Where English minds and manners may be found, Shall be constrained to love thee."

"Without one friend, above all foes, Britannia gives the world repose."

"Men of England! who inherit Rights that cost your sires their blood."

"The land of scholars, and the nurse of arms."

"Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail, Our lion now will foreign foes assail."

"I look upon it as a peculiar blessing that I was born an Englishman."

"We I hope shall be left free to avail ourselves of the advantages of neutrality: and yet much I fear the English, or rather their stupid king, will force us out of it. (...) Common sense dictates therefore that they should let us remain neuter: ergo they will not let us remain neuter. I never yet found any other general rule for foretelling what they will do, but that of examining what they ought not to do."

"I hope for nothing in this world so ardently as once again to see that paradise called England. I long to embrace again all my old friends there."

"A shopkeeper will never get the more custom by beating his customers, and what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation."