Quotes About Countries And Their People Quiz

Answer: John Major

It was certainly not Edward Heath who would have seen Britain as a kind of "fifth column" within Europe.
In Margaret Thatcher's views there was no place for Britain within the European oyster, not even as grit.
And Sir Winston was basically in favour of a United Europe, but then most probably with Britain as its leader.
John Major had to take into account the Euroskeptics in his party and
steered a middle course between courting Europe and rejecting it.

Answer: U.S.A.

The same country was also called: "A country that has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization" ( John O'Hara).

Answer: Belgium

Portugal has often been described as Britain's staunchest ally and indeed often played a helpful role (e.g. during the Napoleonic Wars). Yet it was not invented by the English.
After the banishment of Napoleon to Elba, a "Belgian- Dutch" state was created by the Vienna Congress to serve as a bufferstate between France and the rest of Europe. When that "Dutch-Belgian" State fell apart in 1830, many francophone Belgians hoped to be allowed to join France. Palmerston prevented that idea from becoming a political reality. He also refused to accept the candidacy of the Duke of Nemours as Belgium's "first King". Ultimately it was Queen Victoria's uncle Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha who was offered and also accepted the throne.
Still today a small minority of francophone Belgians dreams of "Rattachement à la France".

Answer: the Dutch

Though the Dutch often pose as "ferociously anti-German" in mentality and in a selective way claim still to suffer from nightmarish war-memories, they often have more in common with their eastern neighbours than they are ready to admit. Even their Royal Family (Orange-Nassau) has German origins.
The Belgians are far too epicurean to have a weak spot for a bland drink like milk. The Austrians and some Swiss are germanophones but they don't seem to have major problems when reminded of their kinship with the nation of poets, thinkers, musicians, and of Mercedes-Benz.
The author of the quote is Dutch writer Gerard Reve.

Answer: Canada

There is no doubt that Canada is a wonderful hockey nation, but it is also the area from where a lot of cold weather "invades" the U.S.A.
On the other hand Canada seems to see some of its neighbours as responsible of ever-increasing air-pollution and its aftermath: acid rain.
Just as the rest of the world, it tries to recycle some of the overspill of baseball talent in the U.S.A. The Canadian Prime-Minister who made this remark was, of course, Pierre Trudeau.

Answer: Sweden

All Scandinavian countries seem to have kings and queens who prefer a fairly democratic style of living to the "pump and circumstances" of other monarchies. Even the Dutch Royal Family keeps a little more distance than its Scandinavian colleagues.
As to Sweden's suicide rate, the Scandinavian country with probably the highest living-standard is also the country where suicide seems to be the most endemic.
Author of the quote: Alan Bennett.

Answer: New Zealand

Ethnic stereotypes are seldom very friendly, yet they should be taken with a pinch of salt. The labelling of the Swiss as "money-grabbing clockmakers" probably expresses more admiration than criticism.
In one of W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman's books on how school-children
"misrepresent" what they think they have learned at school, the Netherlands are described as "a low-lying country full of low, lying people".

Answer: Ireland

The quote is from Sean O'Faolain.
A variant of this quote, is the anonymous saying that an Irishman is the only male that "would step over the bodies of a dozen naked women to a bottle of stout".
When Edna O'Brien spoke of "street angels and house-devils" she may have meant Irish women.
By the way "Vat 69" is NOT the local whisky in the Vatican.

Answer: Israel

Jean-Paul Sartre was aware of a certain touchiness among the Jewish community about the linguistic description of their identity. He probably would have been in agreement with those who nowadays frown at the "exaggerations of political correctness" in "name-giving".

Answer: England

Technically speaking "England" became a dependency of France when William, the Duke of Normandy, defeated Harold of Wessex, in the Battle of Hastings.
Following that reasoning one might say that, nowadays, it would be more suitable for London to be ruled from St. Hélier, Jersey, rather than the other way round.