English Ships

Famous quotes containing the words english and/or ships:

    “Mustn’t grumble” was the most English of expressions. English patience was mingled inertia and despair. What was the use? But Americans did nothing but grumble! Americans also boasted. “I do some pretty incredible things” was not an English expression. “I’m fairly keen” was not American. Americans were showoffs—it was part of our innocence—we often fell on our faces; the English seldom showed off, so they seldom looked like fools.
    Paul Theroux (b. 1941)

    I saw three ships come sailing by,
    Come sailing by, come sailing by,
    I saw three ships come sailing by,
    On Christmas Day in the morning.
    —Unknown. As I Sat on a Sunny Bank. . .

    Oxford Book of Light Verse, The. W. H. Auden, ed. (1938)