British Empire/decolonisation and Decline 1945%e2%80%931997

Famous quotes containing the words british, empire and/or decline:

    “Gaze not on swans, in whose soft breast,
    A full-hatched beauty seems to nest
    Nor snow, which falling from the sky
    Hovers in its virginity.”
    —Henry Noel, British poet, and William Strode, British poet. Beauty Extolled (attributed to Noel and to Strode)

    “To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers, but extremely fit for a nation that is governed by shopkeepers.”
    —Adam Smith (1723–1790)

    “The decline of a culture
    Mourned by scholars who dream of the ghosts of Greek boys.”
    —Stephen Spender (1909–1995)