England is inspirational. From the cities to the countryside, it has the power to awe. And it’s not just me. Others have grown poetic about England over the years. Which means there’s no shortage of sayings about this part of Britain. If you want to be inspired, today I bring you A Lady in London’s favorite England quotes.
England Quotes
My list of England quotes spans centuries and themes. Some are from books or movies set in England, others from journals, and still more from diaries, letters, speeches, and plays.
From age-old sayings to modern expressions, they feature a range of viewpoints on this part of the UK and why so many people around the world love England.
These quotes are great for both inspiration and everyday use. For example, if you’re looking for England quotes for Instagram, they’re perfect.
No matter how you choose to employ or enjoy them, I hope they spur you on to love England as much as the people who penned them.
And if you’re looking for quotes about the capital, my blog post about London quotes is just the thing.
Quotes about England
1. “This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,–This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”
– William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet, and actor. This most famous of England quotes by Shakespeare is from Richard II.
2. There is “no finer county in England than Derbyshire” and “all the the celebrated beauties of Chatsworth, Dovedale and the Peaks.”
– Jane Austen, 18th-century English novelist. These quotes are from Pride and Prejudice.
3. “The English are not very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity.”
– George Bernard Shaw, playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist
4. “The English nation is never so great as in adversity.”
– Benjamin Disraeli, twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
5. “Happy is England! I could be content To see no other verdure than its own”
– John Keats, 19th-century English poet. This England quote is from Sonnet XVII, “Happy is England”.
6. “What other country…could possibly have come up with place names like Tooting Bec and Farleigh Wallop, or a game like cricket that goes on for three days and never seems to start?”
– Bill Bryson, American-British writer. This funny England quote is from Notes From A Small Island.
7. “To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day.”
– W. Somerset Maugham, English playwright, novelist, and short story writer
8. “England is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, anomalies, hobbies and humors.”
– George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist
9. “The sun doesn’t live in England; it comes here on holiday when we’re all at work.”
– Benny Bellamacina, songwriter, musician, poetic humorist, and children’s author. This England quote is from Piddly Poems for Children.
10. “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.”
– Oscar Wilde, 19th-century author, poet, and playwright. This funniest of England quotes is from the short story “The Canterville Ghost”.
11. “England doesn’t have summer, it has continuous autumn with a fortnight’s variation here and there.”
– Natasha Pulley, British author. This quote about England is from The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.
I hope you’ve liked reading these England quotes and that they’ve inspired you as much as they have me. This part of Britain is an amazing place, as everyone from Shakespeare to Keats will tell you.
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This is a brilliant post and I enjoyed it so much – even more so on a Monday morning! Thank you! 😀
You’re welcome! I’m really glad you enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed this post . I liked them all – most of which I’d heard before but I LOVE the idea of the sun coming here on holiday !
“…This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.” I am an Anglophile from the United States. This has always been my favorite quote about England. I have a lot of British ancestry and I visited there in 1986 and I felt like I was home and felt homesick when I left. Thank you for these quotes and now I’m going to check out the London quotes.
That’s great! It’s a lovely quote.