“He is an Englishman!
For he himself has said it,
And it's greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman!.

For he might have been a Rooshian
A French or Turk or Proosian,
Or perhaps Itali-an.
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman.”

The Englishman (from HMS Pinafore).
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He is an Englishman! For he himself has said it, And it's greatly to his credit, That he is an Englishman!. For h…" by W. S. Gilbert?
W. S. Gilbert photo
W. S. Gilbert 67
English librettist of the Gilbert & Sullivan duo 1836–1911

Related quotes

W. S. Gilbert photo

“In spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!”

W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English librettist of the Gilbert & Sullivan duo

H.M.S. Pinafore (1878)
Source: 1878, HMS Pinafore, act 2, also quoted in Dictionary of Quotations, p. 354 (2005)

Brendan Behan photo

“He was born an Englishman and remained one for years.”

Brendan Behan (1923–1964) Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright

Hostage (1958)

José Maria Eça de Queiroz photo

“The Englishman falls on the ideas and customs of other nations like a lump of granite in the water: and there he stays, a weighty encumbrance, with his Bible, his sports and his prejudices, his etiquette and selfishness – completely unaccommodating to those among whom he lives. That is why he remains, in the countries where he has lived for centuries, a foreigner.”

O inglês cai sobre as ideias e as maneiras dos outros como uma massa de granito na água: e ali fica pesando, com a sua Bíblia, os seus clubes, os seus sports, os seus prejuízos, a sua etiqueta, o seu egoísmo – fazendo na circulação da vida alheia um incomodativo tropeço. É por isso que nos países onde vive há séculos é ele ainda o estrangeiro.
"Os Ingleses no Egipto"; "The English in Egypt" p. 160.
Cartas de Inglaterra (1879–82)

“In spite of my attack on Christianity: the Englishman who is a Christian is very much nearer to my heart than he who is not.”

Oscar Levy (1867–1946) German physician and writer

Preface, p. x.
The Revival of Aristocracy (1906)

Leo Tolstoy photo
George Bernard Shaw photo

“It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Preface
1910s, Pygmalion (1912)

William Cobbett photo

“After this, who will say that an Englishman ought not to despise “all the nations of Europe?””

William Cobbett (1763–1835) English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist

For my part I do, and that most “heartily.”

Porcupine's Gazette (December 1797), Porcupine's Works; containing various writings and selections, exhibiting a faithful picture of the United States of America, Volume VII (1801), p. 428
1790s

Charles Lyell photo
George William Curtis photo
Colum McCann photo

Related topics