Quote

The British suffer from a most unfortunate superiority complex - unjustified even under Victoria and most certainly hopelessly out-of-date today.

George Mikes

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

George Mikes
Age: 75 †
Born: 1912
Born: February 15
Died: 1987
Died: August 30
Author
Biographer
Journalist
Writer
Siklos
British
Victoria
England
Superiority
Certainly
Unfortunate
Suffering
Date
Funny
Complexes
Today
Humorous
Even
Complex
Unjustified
Suffer
Hopelessly

More quotes by George Mikes

Image
Remember that those five hundred words an average Englishman uses are far from being the whole vocabulary of the language. You may learn another five hundred and another five thousand and yet another fifty thousand and still you may come across a further fifty thousand you have never heard of before, and nobody else either.
George Mikes
Image
Long before the word Zionism was uttered for the first time, old religious Jews came from all over the world to die in Jerusalem. It is the finest place to die in - it has always been acknowledged. It has a joie de mourir quite its own.
George Mikes
Image
To be extravagant you need money. True. But you do not need your own money.
George Mikes
Image
I have often thought that the aim of port is to give you a good and durable hangover, so that during the next day you should be reminded of the splendid occasion the night before.
George Mikes
Image
The man who is not afraid of danger is not a hero, but a psychopath.
George Mikes
Image
THE British are brave people. They can face anything, except reality.
George Mikes
Image
The country has always been governed by a coalition but today it is governed by a so-called Grand Coalition which is a more polite word for all and sundry.
George Mikes
Image
Israelis keep teaching you your own business. God knows everything but the Israelis know everything better.
George Mikes
Image
Bargaining is a repulsive habit compromise is one of the highest human virtues - the difference between the two being that the first is practised on the Continent, the latter in Great Britain.
George Mikes
Image
On the Continent stray cats are judged individually on their merit-some are loved, some are only respected in England they are universally worshipped as in ancient Egypt.
George Mikes
Image
Travel' is the name of a modern disease which became rampant in themid-fifties and is still spreading. The disease - its scientific name is travelitis furiosus - is carried by a germ called prosperity.
George Mikes
Image
'I don't say a Zionist must be insane,' said President Weizmann, 'but it helps if he is.'
George Mikes
Image
Tel-Aviv airport is still the only airport in the world where each passenger is met by ten relatives.
George Mikes
Image
Was he joking? Was he being sarcastic? Aggressive? Impertinent? Or just courteous? There was no telling from his impassive face. What a country, he thought despairingly. In Russia you always knew. If a man made a stern face he was threatening if he was laughing uproariously, he was joking.
George Mikes
Image
Humility is one of the most repulsive virtues, nearly always false.
George Mikes
Image
Many Continentals think life is a game the English think cricket is a game.
George Mikes
Image
Japan is, you often feel, an improved version of the United States.
George Mikes
Image
In England the boy pats his adored one on the back and says softly, I don't object, you know. If he is quite mad with passion, he may add: I rather fancy you, in fact.
George Mikes
Image
On the Continent people have good food in England people have good table manners.
George Mikes
Image
In England only uneducated people show off their knowledge nobody quotes Latin or Greek authors in the course of conversation, unless he has never read them.
George Mikes