British Empire Quotes

“Who said the British empire was gone?! When I travel around the world and see and hear the English language everywhere, I know that the empire on which the sun never sets, is still alive. It never died. It continued to exist, but in a different shape, its language, English, which has become the global language.”
― Mouloud Benzadi

“A dull, decent people, cherishing and fortifying their dullness behind a quarter of a million bayonets.”
― George Orwell, Burmese Days

“I believe that all novels, ... deal with character, and that it is to express character – not to preach doctrines, sing songs, or celebrate the glories of the British Empire, that the form of the novel, so clumsy, verbose, and undramatic, so rich, elastic, and alive, has been evolved ... The great novelists have brought us to see whatever they wish us to see through some character. Otherwise they would not be novelists, but poet, historians, or pamphleteers.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin

“Some say that because the United States was wrong before, it cannot possibly be right now, or has not the right to be right. (The British Empire sent a fleet to Africa and the Caribbean to maintain the slave trade while the very same empire later sent another fleet to enforce abolition. I would not have opposed the second policy because of my objections to the first; rather it seems to me that the second policy was morally necessitated by its predecessor.)”
― Christopher Hitchens, A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq

“Wars, wars, wars': reading up on the region I came across one moment when quintessential Englishness had in fact intersected with this darkling plain. In 1906 Winston Churchill, then the minister responsible for British colonies, had been honored by an invitation from Kaiser Wilhelm II to attend the annual maneuvers of the Imperial German Army, held at Breslau. The Kaiser was 'resplendent in the uniform of the White Silesian Cuirassiers' and his massed and regimented infantry...

reminded one more of great Atlantic rollers than human formations. Clouds of cavalry, avalanches of field-guns and—at that time a novelty—squadrons of motor-cars (private and military) completed the array. For five hours the immense defilade continued. Yet this was only a twentieth of the armed strength of the regular German Army before mobilization.

Strange to find Winston Churchill and Sylvia Plath both choosing the word 'roller,' in both its juggernaut and wavelike declensions, for that scene.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“It is truth, in the old saying, that is 'the daughter of time,' and the lapse of half a century has not left us many of our illusions. Churchill tried and failed to preserve one empire. He failed to preserve his own empire, but succeeded in aggrandizing two much larger ones. He seems to have used crisis after crisis as an excuse to extend his own power. His petulant refusal to relinquish the leadership was the despair of postwar British Conservatives; in my opinion this refusal had to do with his yearning to accomplish something that 'history' had so far denied him—the winning of a democratic election.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays

“It's evident now, obvious in retrospect as the proof of root-two's irrationality, that these world superpowers are neither infallible, nor superior. They're nothing, not without a brutally enforced relativity. An organized, systematic brutality that their soft and sagging children can scarcely stomach - won't even acknowledge. Yet cling to as truth. There was never any absolute, no decree from God. Just viscous, random chance. And then, compounding.”
― Natasha Brown, Assembly

“How come Hitler is a bigger villain than the British monarchy, when Hitler invaded only 11 countries, while the British empire invaded 90 percent of the globe, that is, over 170 countries, and caused multiple times the massacre than the Nazis did!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Monarchy is the british equivalent of the confederacy. Those who identify with it, can't live without it, but those who are humans, know the inhumanity it represents.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“When they left for South Africa to work on a farm, she thought they were escaping. She thought, as many of them did, that it was a way out. The new land showed promise: Indian indentured labor had been abolished, opportunities were arising in the growing Indian settlements in Natal and Transvaal, neighbors and friends were all leaving. They said it was better in Africa for them. But her family realized too late, the British were the same whether they were in South Africa or India; their brown skin would always hold the same currency. Her family still lived in poverty, they were punished for their skin color, and they were still answerable to the white man for everything they did.

It was still slavery, just in different packaging.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Rushmore is a monument of massacre, Buckingham is a palace of plunderers.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“My Earth, Your Earth
(The Sonnet)

My America fosters the
spirit of self-correction,
Your America lies in the
continuation of exploitation.

My England lives in a willful
drive for making amends,
Your England lies in deliberate
denial of historic mess.

My Australia battles to
assimilate those once wronged,
Your Australia boasts proudly
atrocious plunders as tradition.

My India is the most radiant
beacon of multiculturalism,
Your India is a septic tank
of prehistoric nationalism.

I wish I could tell you, you and I
are the same, but we are not.
My earth is a celebration of people,
Your earth is chained to dead customs.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“My America fosters the
spirit of self-correction,
Your America lies in the
continuation of exploitation.

My England lives in a willful
drive for making amends,
Your England lies in deliberate
denial of historic mess.

My Australia battles to
assimilate those once wronged,
Your Australia boasts proudly
atrocious plunders as tradition.

I wish I could tell you, you and I
are the same, but we are not.
My earth is a celebration of people,
Your earth is chained to dead customs.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“When natives are treated alien,
and aliens take over as master,
cultures uprooted by legal decree,
honor is stolen as spoils of war,
defying the delirium of king and country,
rise and stand human against imperial larceny.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Alien Native
(The Sonnet)

When natives are treated alien,
and aliens take over as master,
cultures uprooted by legal decree,
honor is stolen as spoils of war,

empires erected on blood and bones,
when prosperity is rooted in plunder,
homes are stripped of hopes and dreams,
violations feed the palace of blunder,

when baboons are adorned with bootleg,
each rock is drenched in bloodshed,
when festivities thrive on thievery,
correction is cursed as blasphemous,

defying the delirium of king and country,
rise and stand human against imperial larceny.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Baa Baa White Sheep
(The Sonnet)

Baa baa white sheep,
have you any wool!
Yes sir, yes sir,
London tower full.

Pull it over your eyes,
or weave it into blanket.
All stink of blood and blunder,
a scent second not even to crumpet.

Imperials rise upon indigenous fall,
declaring themselves as light-bringer.
Native tears form kohinoor on the crown,
Blood is but cologne to the colonizer.

Not all of colonial descent are colonizer,
but those who take pride in the past are.
To these animal ghosts of the human world,
no matter your ethnicity send a get well card.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Imperials rise upon indigenous fall,
declaring themselves as light-bringer.
Native tears form kohinoor on the crown,
Blood is but cologne to the colonizer.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Native tears form kohinoor on the crown, blood is but cologne to the colonizer.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Deutschland über alles (The Sonnet)

If the germans have no right
to take pride in their past,
neither do the british
or the americans.

In fact, the scale of british and american
atrocities, surpasses the SS many folds.
'Deutschland über alles' is 'jingle bells',
compared to british and american holocaust.

Yet germany had the human decency
to dump its horrific national anthem,
while colonial pride is still dominant,
across much of america and england.

Radical inhumanity warrants radical reparations,
a concept yet foreign to Buck House and Uncle Sam.
When you are the largest manufacturer of massacre,
making amends should be your existential anthem.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Carry on Up The Tower (The Sonnet)

British museum is not a repository of relics,
it's a time capsule of british barbarism.
It's a classic case of cannibalism, narcissism,
kleptomania and psychopathy combined in one.

Tower of London is not a heritage site,
it's the Bedlam of the british.
The title of "heritage site" belongs
to memories of pride, not primitives.

Buckingham palace is not a noble home,
it's the national zoo of England,
where they coddle massacre 'n stagnation,
with no civil initiative for atonement.

Nobility of blood is nobility of the jungle,
modern nobility involves substance of character,
whose identity isn't anchored in transgressions,
bloodline defines chimps, humans by behavior.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“British museum is not a repository of relics, it's a time capsule of british barbarism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“British museum is not a repository of relics, it's a time capsule of british barbarism. It's a classic case of cannibalism, narcissism, kleptomania and psychopathy combined in one.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Tower of London is not a heritage site, it's the Bedlam of the british.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Buckingham palace is not a noble home, it's the national zoo of England, where they coddle massacre 'n stagnation, with no civil initiative for atonement.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“God Save The King, Sonnet
(New UK Anthem)

God save our gracious King,
Long live our noble King!
Even if he is a philanderer,
God save our righteous King!

Send him victorious,
happy and glorious,
ruler of the free world,
even if he is ignominious!

Thy choicest gifts in store,
on him be pleased to pour,
let starving natives starve,
so our king may rightly soar.

May he defend our laws,
and ever give us cause,
to be but proud morons,
merrying over massacres.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Colonialism is cannibalism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“More to life than king and country,
More to love than crumpet and nookie.
Rise above all mindless swag,
Break the spell of heartless shag,
Life begins outside the vault of vanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Jack and Jill (Colonial Sonnet)

Jack and Jill once went up a hill,
to pick the fabled golden fruit.
So they trapped some blacks-n-browns,
to serve them tireless hand and foot.

Jack and Jill had a glorious dream,
to make the world imperially great.
So they bought some colored folks,
to boss around from their noble bed.

Jack and Jill were full of themselves,
they nicked 'n nicked without repercussion.
Like shameless filth then they sold tickets,
exhibiting the spoils of their barbarism.

Jack and Jill were textbook white trash,
not the right idols of civilized society.
You cannot unscrew their diabolical screwups,
just have the decency to not repeat history.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Humpty Dumpty (Colonial Sonnet)

Humpty Dumpty sat on a throne,
he made a career of divide-n-rule.
Whole west found a savior in a fool,
as he was anointed the royal mule.

He smuggled food from starving natives,
for fighting troops were far more worthy.
Adolf was designated the villain supremo,
while he was the free world's beloved Humpty.

It's fault of the natives to "breed like rabbits",
he was right to be their judge and executioner.
After all, human rights mean rights of the pale,
freedom and equality don't apply to the darker.

Humpty Dumpty was ready with his cigar,
to fight the invaders on the beaches.
Sure he was the right nut for the job,
expertise lies in centuries of practice.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“British colonial disdain for human rights even left its mark on the English language. The word “coolie” was borrowed from a Chinese word that literally means “bitter labor.” The Romanized first syllable coo means “bitter” and the second syllable lie mimics the pronunciation of the Chinese logograph that means “labor.”

This Chinese word sprang into existence shortly after the Opium War in the nineteenth century when Britain annexed several territories along the eastern seaboard of China. Those territories included Hong Kong, parts of Shanghai, Canton city (Guangzhou) and parts of Tianjin, a seaport near Beijing.

In those newly acquired territories, the British employed a vast number of manual laborers who served as beasts of burden on the waterfront in factories and at train stations. The coolies’ compensation was opium, not money.

The British agency and officers that conceived this unusual scheme of compensation—opium for back-breaking hard labor—were as pernicious and ruthless as they were clever and calculating. Opium is a palliative drug. An addict becomes docile and inured to pain. He has no appetite and only craves the next fix. In the British colonies and concessions, the colonizers, by paying opium to the laborers for their long hours of inhumane, harsh labor, created a situation in which the Chinese laborers toiled obediently and never complained about the excessive workload or the physical devastation. Most important of all, the practice cost the employers next to nothing to feed and house the laborers, since opium suppressed the appetite of the addicts and made them oblivious to pain and discomfort. What could be better or more expedient for the British colonialists whose goal was to make a quick fortune?

They had invented the most efficient and effective way to accumulate capital at a negligible cost in a colony. The only consequence was the loss of lives among the colonial subjects—an irrelevant issue to the colonialists.

In addition to the advantages of this colonial practice, the British paid a pittance for the opium. In those days, opium was mostly produced in another British colony, Burma, not far from China. The exploitation of farmhands in one colony lubricated the wheels of commerce in another colony. On average, a coolie survived only a few months of the grim regime of harsh labor and opium addiction. Towards the end, as his body began to break down from malnutrition and overexertion, he was prone to cardiac arrest and sudden death. If, before his death, a coolie stumbled and hurt his back or broke a limb, he became unemployed. The employer simply recruited a replacement.

The death of coolies in Canton, Hong Kong, Shanghai and other coastal cities where the British had established their extraterritorial jurisdiction during the late 19th century was so common that the Chinese accepted the phenomenon as a routine matter of semi-colonial life. Neither injury nor death of a coolie triggered any compensation to his family.

The impoverished Chinese accepted injury and sudden death as part of the occupational hazard of a coolie, the “bitter labor.” “Bitter” because the labor and the opium sucked the life out of a laborer in a short span of time.

Once, a 19th-century British colonial officer, commenting on the sudden death syndrome among the coolies, remarked casually in his Queen’s English, “Yes, it is unfortunate, but the coolies are Chinese, and by God, there are so many of them.” Today, the word “coolie” remains in the English language, designating an over-exploited or abused unskilled laborer.”
― Charles N. Li, The Turbulent Sea: Passage to a New World