The most powerful words in English are ‘Tell me a story,’ words that are intimately related to the complexity of history, the origins of language, the continuity of the species, the taproot of our humanity, our singularity, and art itself.
In fact, it is amazing how much European films – Italian, French, German and English – have recovered a certain territory of the audience in their countries over the last few years.
There’s a melody in everything. And once you find the melody, then you connect immediately with the heart. Because sometimes English or Spanish, Swahili or any language gets in the way. But nothing penetrates the heart faster than the melody.
I do love my full English breakfast, but not every day. What I can’t do without first thing in the morning, though, is my Danish pastry or a croissant – anything with a laminated dough, enriched with butter to make it beautifully golden and flaky.
I was born in Honduras, and everything there is really chill, and people don’t worry about having to get something overnighted by FedEx. Maui has that same sort of vibe, but everyone speaks English.
My experience of Chinese culture is indirect, through echoes. When I approach the cashier at my local Chinese supermarket, they switch to English before I’ve even said a word. They somehow know that I’m not quite Chinese enough.
Somebody said to me that I speak English almost like somebody for whom English is not their first language.
If Wellington epitomizes the English gentleman, Eisenhower epitomizes the natural American gentleman.
To become an American citizen, we require people to read, write and speak in English. That is to help them to assimilate in our melting pot, truly to become Americans. We mock that when the cherished right to vote does not involve English any more.
I’ve been given an amazing opportunity and I could not be more grateful. But I also know that all this will eventually die off. It’s not real. It will go away and then you’ll go away and then, I don’t know, I’ll be left sitting in some English hotel room.
‘The English Patient’ was a huge turning point in my career and my life; it became this huge thing. But the whole Oscar build-up got completely out of control; I spent more time talking about that film than I spent making it!
I was also in love with the English language.
The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.
This very individualistic form of Protestant Christianity that became so basic in English and then American life is to a large degree responsible for the historical success of Britain and America.
English should be our official language. Reading and speaking English are requirements to become a citizen.
Shakespeare, who is probably the greatest writer and poet of the English language, lived in a time that was politically very conservative and it’s reflected in his writings.
Croquet is tough. People play for months because the rules are so bizarre. Those crazy English.
The inner me was always under attack by authority, by the way my parents wanted me to be brought up, by these English schools I went to. So I’ve always felt this kind of anti-authoritarian strain in me, pushing to express itself despite the obstacles.
Find a priest who understands English and doesn’t look like Rasputin.
I moved to Oklahoma to learn English when I was 16 years old from Colombia for six months; then I moved to New York.
I learned English in a pub. I didn’t learn it in school.
If the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.
I’m older than my sister so I started writing first. I started writing at school. I was always top of my class in composition, essays, English Lit and all of that.
There were sometimes from forty to sixty English machines, but unfortunately the Germans were often in the minority. With them quality was more important than quantity.
‘Good English’ is whatever educated people talk; so that what is good in one place or time would not be so in another.
I could sing in English before I could understand it because I phonetically learned it from the musicals.
I haven’t had any formal education. Through the grace of god, I am gifted in mathematics and the English language.
My father is a visual artist, so I was influenced by him, and my mother is an English teacher who forced me to read a lot of books and poetry and get involved in theatre. I developed a varied taste for different arts.
You know, nobody eats in England. Three or four pints of English beer a night fills you. I can’t say I’m very impressed with the food in America. it’s all sort of bland. Like turkey sandwiches.
I was an English major in college, and then I went to graduate school in English at the University of North Carolina for three years.
The Social-Democratic Federation took part in all the political and economic struggles of the English working class; it took pains to bring Socialist views home to them, not only through agitation and propaganda, but also by actions.
When I was playing in the Ajax youth teams – when I was, say, 14, 15 – you started to get all those international youth tournaments. All those English teams came. Well, the English were much further than we were.
My old English buddy, John Rackham, wrote and told me what made science fiction different from all other kinds of literature – science fiction is written according to the science fiction method.
Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
All our hiring staff are trained to interview in English. They’re trained to look for Westernized segments because we deal with global customers.
I think literary theory has not been terribly good for English studies in a while. It’s not that theory isn’t interesting, but it isn’t about books, or the idiosyncrasies and complexities of putting language together.
My early wounds were the English school system among other things. It wasn’t merely the discipline, it was the ways in which boys got what was called the school spirit.
There’s a bit of a myth that you pre-suppose every European player is better than every English player.
We English are good at forgiving our enemies; it releases us from the obligation of liking our friends.
Only 38 per cent of players in the Premier League are English; that is a damning statistic. Soon, the England manager will have to go scouting for players in the Championship – and when I say ‘soon’ I mean the next four or five years, perhaps even for the next World Cup.
Besides Hindi and English, I can speak in Maithli, my native language, and in Bangla and Nepalese too. But I can just about make a smattering at Marathi.
I love boys with English accents.
During my years of professional cricket in England, I realised that although the Australians were talented players, tactically they were a bit naive when compared to those who played full-time on the English circuit. You might find this arrogant, but that was the reality then.
Apart from English, I speak my mother tongue Malayalam, as well as Tamil, Telugu, and a bit of Kannada and French.
At the English Revolution, when William of Orange came to the throne, the introduction of French wines into the country was prohibited, and this gave a great impetus to the manufacture of cyder and care in the production of cyder of the best description.
I don’t only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and… ants. I can understand ants.
What makes me really happy is a walk in the English countryside. A nice sunset, that British countryside – it means I’m home.
Since I learned English, I’ve become a motormouth!
There are uses to adversity, and they don’t reveal themselves until tested. Whether it’s serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.
Well, I am from India and I wanted to make films in English for the international market in India. So that was really the main thing, and then of course economically it was cheaper to make films in India.
I don’t want to play only Latin women. I want to have roles in English.
The other day, I was taking part in an audience Q&A when I was roundly scolded by a woman for ‘allowing the BBC to ruin the English language.’ Naturally I felt terrible, as I had no idea either that it was happening or that I was responsible.
Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour – we’re more like celery as a flavour.
I was born in Texas and I lived there ’till I was 8. Then I moved to the Dominican Republic with my mom, lived there for two years and forgot every word of English I knew.
Although an increasing proportion of the Hispanic population is foreign-born – about half of adults in this group – English proficiency is and should remain a requirement for citizenship.
Sitting here now today, I can forgive a lot of the English people because it only takes a hand full of bad people to do something stupid like that and it can make the whole country look bad.
The English countryside is the most staggeringly beautiful place. I can’t spend as much time there as I like, but I like everything about it. I like fishing, I like clay- pigeon shooting.
