Westminster Quotes:

On a very gloomy dismal day, just such a one as it ought to be, I went to see Westminster Abbey.

- Karl Philipp Moritz

source: Karl Philipp Moritz (2010). “Travels in England in 1782”, p.54, BoD – Books on Demand

topic: Gloomy, Westminster Abbey, Abbey, Westminster

As I passed along the side walls of Westminster Abbey, I hardly saw any thing but marble monuments of great admirals, but which were all too much loaded with finery and ornaments, to make on me at least, the intended impression.

- Karl Philipp Moritz

source: Karl Philipp Moritz (2010). “Travels in England in 1782”, p.55, BoD – Books on Demand

topic: Wall, Ornaments, Too Much, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

He who is faithful over a few things is a lord of cities. It does not matter whether you preach in Westminster Abbey or teach a ragged class, so you be faithful. The faithfulness is all.

- George MacDonald

source: George MacDonald (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated)”, p.2730, Delphi Classics

topic: Class, Cities, Faithful, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

Darwin was one of our finest specimens. He did superbly what human beings are designed to do: manipulate social information to personal advantage. The information in question was the prevailing account of how human beings, and all organisms, came to exist; Darwin reshaped it in a way that radically raised his social status. When he died in 1882, his greatness was acclaimed in newspapers around the world, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey, not far from the body of Isaac Newton. Alpha-male territory.

- Robert Wright

source: Robert Wright (2010). “The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology”, p.377, Vintage

topic: Greatness, World, Body, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey, the Tower, a steeple, one church, and then another, presented themselves to our view; and we could now plainly distinguish the high round chimneys on the tops of the houses, which yet seemed to us to form an innumerable number of smaller spires, or steeples.

- Karl Philipp Moritz

source: Karl Philipp Moritz (2010). “Travels in England in 1782”, p.7, BoD – Books on Demand

topic: Views, Numbers, House, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

I remember confuting one of Westminster's favourite maxims, "better the devil you know than the devil you don't". In the annals of popular wisdom, this is one of the most cretinous sayings I have come across.

- Coco Chanel

source: Source: www.chanel-muggeridge.com

topic: Westminster

There have been several Duchesses of Westminster but there is only one Chanel!

- Coco Chanel

topic: Duchess, Westminster Abbey, Westminster

It is eerie being all but alone in Westminster Abbey. Without the tourists, there are only the dead, many of them kings and queens. They speak powerfully and put my thoughts into vivid perspective.

- A. N. Wilson

topic: Kings, Queens, Eerie, Kings And Queens, Abbey

Finally, there's a sense in which I look at this Westminster village and London intelligentsia as an outsider.

- Diane Abbott

source: "Politicians interview pundits: Diane Abbott and Nick Robinson". Interview with Nick Robinson, www.theguardian.com. September 25, 2009.

topic: Looks, Village, London, Westminster

Much have I travelled in the realms of gold for which I thank the Paddington and Westminster Public Libraries.

- Peter Porter

source: Peter Porter (2010). “The Rest on the Flight: Selected Poems”, p.15, Pan Macmillan

topic: Library, Gold, Realms, Westminster

I mean, you can't walk down the aisle in Westminster Abbey in a strapless dress, it just won't happen - it has to suit the grandeur of that aisle, it's enormous.

- Bruce Oldfield

topic: Mean, Dresses, Suits, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!

- Brennan Manning

topic: Heart, Splendor, Glorious, Chapel, Westminster

I go to see my kids in school plays, ... I watched Lorna in a concert at the Westminster College of Music the other day and it was amazing. I felt very proud and surprised. I don't know why I was surprised, because I've known her for 17 years, but I've never seen her do anything like that in front of an audience. It's brave, it's uplifting.

- Sean Bean

topic: Uplifting, Kids, School, Westminster, School Plays

I look forward to the day when the Westminster Parliament is just a council chamber in Europe

- Kenneth Clarke

topic: Europe, Looks, Parliament, Westminster

Once (says an Author; where I need not say) Two Trav'lers found an Oyster in their way; Both fierce, both hungry; the dispute grew stong; While Scale in Hand Dame Justice pass'd along Before her each with clamour pleads the Laws. Explain'd the matter, and would win the cause, Dame Justice wighing long the doubtful Right Takes, opens, swallows it, before their sight. The cause of strife remov'd so rarely well, "There take" (says Justice), "take ye each a shell. We thrive at Westminster on Fools like you: 'Twas a fat oyster - live in peace - Adieu."

- Pope Alexander VI

topic: Winning, Sight, Hands, Westminster, Adieu

I went to the Westminster College for Men in Missouri, which is what it was called back then, and transferred to the University of Denver where I ultimately got my degree.

- Ted Shackelford

topic: College, Men, Denver, Westminster, Missouri

English character and English freedom depend comparatively little on the form which the Constitution assumes at Westminster. A centralised democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch; and if the vigour of the nation is to continue unimpaired, each individual, each family, each district, must preserve as far as possible its independence, its self-completeness, its powers and its privilege to manage its own affairs and think its own thoughts.

- James Anthony Froude

source: James Anthony Froude (1875). “Short Studies on Great Subjects: Second series”, p.446

topic: Character, Thinking, Self, Westminster

We are told that Sin consists in acting contrary to God's commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, nothing contrary to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobeys His commands, He must have intended this to happen.

- Bertrand Russell

source: Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.51, Routledge

topic: Funny, God, Humorous, Omnipotent, Westminster

It is beginning to be doubtful whether Parliament and Congress sit in Westminster and Washington, or in the editorial rooms of the leading journals,--so thoroughly is everything debated before the authorized and responsible debaters get on their legs.

- James Russell Lowell

topic: Legs, Rooms, Printing, Westminster

The young man who, at the end of September, 1924, dismounted from a taxicab in South Square, Westminster, was so unobtrusively American that his driver had some hesitation in asking for double his fare. The young man had no hesitation in refusing it.

- John Galsworthy

topic: Book, Men, Squares, Westminster

The 'Little' or 'Barebones' Parliament, summoned by Oliver Cromwell to meet at Westminster on 4th July, 1653, after the dissolution of the remains of the Long Parliament, may have been an unpractical body, so far as the task of administration in troublous times was concerned. But it seems quite possible that the wealth of contumely and scorn which has been poured upon it was, originally, due quite as much to the fierce anger of vested interests against outspoken criticism, as to any real vagueness or want of practical wisdom in the plans of the House itself.

- Edward Jenks

source: "A Short History Of The English Law" by Edward Jenks.Fiirst edition, ch. XII, Civil Procedure In The Middle Ages, p. 178, 1912.

topic: Real, 4th Of July, Long, Westminster, Cromwell

Thus, at long last, as a visible emblem of unity was daily growing in the new Palace of Justice then being erected in the Strand, half way between the historic site of Westminster the historic centre of the commercial capital of the world, there began to grow up, in the minds of reformers, the vision of a great and united Supreme Court of Justice, with uniform principles, uniform law, and uniform procedure.

- Edward Jenks

source: "A Short History Of The English Law". Book by Edward Jenks, (First Edition), Chapter XIX, Modern Civil Procedure, p. 364, 1912.

topic: Growing Up, Law, Long, Westminster

The Reformed tradition at the beginning of the twenty-first century is different as a consequence of this - and different in nontrivial ways. Some may scoff at this, saying that such "developments" don't represent Reformed thought. But by what standard? Perhaps by the Westminster Confession. But this is only one Reformed confession, and it was only ever a subordinate standard.

- Oliver D. Crisp

topic: Twenties, Different, Development, Westminster

Westminster Abbey is nature crystallized into a conventional form by man, with his sorrows, his joys, his failures, and his seeking for the Great Spirit. It is a frozen requiem, with a nation's prayer ever in dumb music ascending.

- M. E. W. Sherwood

topic: Prayer, Men, Joy, Westminster Abbey, Westminster

It is contended that those who have been bred at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, and Westminster, that the public sentiment within each of those schools is high-toned and manly; that, in their playgrounds, courage is universally admired, meanness despised, manly feelings and generous conduct are encouraged: that an unwritten code of honor deals to the spoiled child of rank, and to the child of upstart wealth an even-handed justice, purges their nonsense out of both, and does all that can be done to make them gentlemen.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

source: Ralph Waldo Emerson (2009). “The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.567, Modern Library

topic: Education, Children, School, Spoiled Children, Westminster

The winner of the Westminster Dog Show gets to drink champagne - out of the toilet.

- David Letterman

topic: Dog, Toilets, Winner, Westminster

After listening to modern tirades against the great creeds of the Church, one receives a shock when one turns to the Westminster Confession... and discovers that in doing so one has turned from shallow modern phrases to a "dead orthodoxy" that is pulsating with life in every word. In such orthodoxy there is life enough to set the whole world aglow with Christian love.

- John Gresham Machen

source: John Gresham Machen (1923). “Christianity and Liberalism”, p.46, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

topic: Westminster

Some days I feel like I'm only the fire hydrant to Westminster dog show.

- Bob Beckel

source: Source: www.foxnews.com

topic: Dog, Fire, Shows, Westminster

You have a job but you don't always have job security, you have your own home but you worry about mortgage rates going up, you can just about manage but you worry about the cost of living and the quality of the local school because there is no other choice for you.rankly, not everybody in Westminster understands what it's like to live like this and some need to be told that it isn't a game.

- Theresa May

topic: Jobs, Home, School, Mortgage Rate, Westminster

I've lived in a flat in Westminster in London for over 20 years; and I also have a house in the country, down in Somerset, so I have the best of both worlds.

- Marti Webb

topic: Country, Years, House, Westminster, Best Of Both Worlds

The only place that's holier than St. Andrews is Westminster Abbey.

- Sam Snead

topic: Golf, Andrew, Westminster Abbey, Abbey, Westminster

And so in my warnings, I was pointing to a number of incidents around the communion that could undermine our growing sense of communion - of becoming a global communion. So that's why I pointed to New Westminster in Canada, to incidents in the United States, and Sydney itself.

- George Carey

source: "Archbishop of Canterbury speaks out". "The Religion Report" with Stephen Crittenden, www.abc.net.au. September 25, 2002.

topic: Numbers, United States, Warning, Westminster

What happens when there is a conflict between the Scottish parliament, if it was established, and the Westminster parliament? Who is supreme?

- John Major

topic: Conflict, Scottish, Parliament, Westminster

In Scotland, the indication is that for the Westminster elections at least, Labour voters are satisfied with their government.

- Lucy Powell

source: "A good night for Labour - phew!" by Lucy Powell, www.theguardian.com. November 7, 2008.

topic: Government, Scotland, Voters, Westminster

Thankfully, due to the United Kingdom and the commitment of the Westminster government we are able to ensure that money brought in, whether it be from the City of London or from North Sea oil, can be pooled and directed to wherever it is needed most. That is what being in the United Kingdom is all about.

- Iain Duncan Smith

topic: Commitment, Oil, Government, Westminster, City Of London

My petal. Westminster’s toy had tea issues. Thank Biffy and Lyall. Toodle pip. A.

- Gail Carriger

topic: Issues, Tea, Toys, Westminster

Everyone marries the Duke of Westminster. There are a lot of duchesses, but only one Coco Chanel.

- Coco Chanel

topic: Dukes, Duchess, Westminster

Commemorative stone in the floor of the Chapel of St. George in Westminster Abbey, London, dedicated in 1947: TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT Baden-Powell CHIEF SCOUT OF THE WORLD 1857-1941 Upon one side of the stone was the badge of the Boy Scouts, the arrow-head to point the true way as it had pointed the way for sailors and navigators from the time of the earliest maps; and on the other the badge of the Girl Guides-the three-leafed clover.

- Robert Baden-Powell

topic: Girl, Time, Memories, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

There are more speculators about New Westminster and Victoria than there were in Winnipeg during the boom and they are a much sharper lot. Nearly every person is more or less interested and you will have to be on your guard against all of them.

- William Cornelius Van Horne

source: Canadian Pacific Railway Company, William Cornelius Van Horne “Van Horne Letter Book: Dec. 3rd, 1884-Feb. 3rd, 1885”

topic: Winnipeg, Persons, Victoria, Westminster

If animals had a Pope," Major Thompson said to me, "their Vatican would be in London. And if by some dire submarine cataclysm that noble vessel, Great Britain, were to be shipwrecked and start to founder, believe me, there would surely be somebody in Westminster to cry from the top of the Tower: "Dogs first!

- Pierre Daninos

topic: Dog, Believe, Animal, Westminster

PRIMATE, n. The head of a church, especially a State church supported by involuntary contributions. The Primate of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury, an amiable old gentleman, who occupies Lambeth Palace when living and Westminster Abbey when dead. He is commonly dead.

- Ambrose Bierce

topic: Gentleman, Church, England, Westminster Abbey, Westminster

There is laughter that goes so far as to lose all touch with its motive, and to exist only, grossly, in itself. This is laughter at its best. A man to whom such laughter has often been granted may happen to die in a work-house. No matter. I will not admit that he has failed in life. Another man, who has never laughed thus, may be buried in Westminster Abbey, leaving more than a million pounds overhead. What then? I regard him as a failure.

- Max Beerbohm

topic: Laughter, Men, House, Abbey, Westminster Abbey

The problem is that many MPs never see the London that exists beyond the wine bars and brothels of Westminster.

- Ken Livingstone

topic: Wine, Mps, Bars, Westminster

It was Reagan who began the realignment of American politics, making the Republicans into internationalist Jeffersonians with his speech in London at the Palace of Westminster in 1982, which led to the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy and the emergence of democracy promotion as a central goal of United States foreign policy.

- Michael Ignatieff

topic: Goal, Democracy, Speech, Westminster, American Politics

In the firm expectation that when London shall be a habitation of bitterns, when St. Paul and Westminster Abbey shall stand shapeless and nameless ruins in the midst of an unpeopled marsh, when the piers of Waterloo Bridge shall become the nuclei of islets of reeds and osiers, and cast the jagged shadows of their broken arches on the solitary stream, some Transatlantic commentator will be weighing in the scales of some new and now unimagined system of criticism the respective merits of the Bells and the Fudges and their historians.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

source: Percy Bysshe Shelley (2008). “The Narrative Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley”, p.136, Wildside Press LLC

topic: Bridges, Broken, Expectations, Westminster Abbey, Piers

I grew up in New Jersey in the '80s. That means one thing: Big hair. ... I had big hair, my boyfriends had big hair, we all had big hair. Our prom looked like the poodle division of the Westminster dog show.

- Jancee Dunn

topic: Dog, Mean, Hair, Westminster, Big Hair