Best Australian Quotes

#1. I asked many friends if Australian anti-intellectualism was still a living force and they all told me it was. If you are above average intelligence, hide this embarrassing fact.

George Mikes

#2. If 30 Australians drowned in Sydney Harbour, it would be a national tragedy. But when 30 or more refugees drown off the Australian coast, it is a political question.

Richard Flanagan

#3. I used to have 30 different species of tarantulas, as well as two Australian scorpions that are considered the deadliest in the world. If stung by one, a person would die in 30 minutes. But when I had kids I had to get rid of them, of course. Those were intense!

Jonathan Davis

#4. I don't know that many Australian actors in Los Angeles, but there are a few of us. I mean, we kind of get together occasionally, but I wouldn't say it's an alliance or anything like that.

Xavier Samuel

#5. I like the story about me being pregnant. It was in some Australian magazine, on the front page! I was like, 'Wow, that's just [insane].' And it's not even ironic. I don't even think the article [tried to justify it]; it was just a headline. The article was just like, nothing.

Robert Pattinson

#6. The Australian economy is resilient, but business and consumer confidence is fragile.

Julie Bishop

#7. Anybody who achieves what Malcolm Fraser achieved in his life deserves respect as a quite extraordinary Australian.

Paul Keating

#8. I'm not too fond of the typical Australian activities or culture. I'm not into surfing.

Jens Lekman

#9. By transporting Asian species to North America, and North American species to Australia, and Australian species to Africa, and European species to Antarctica, we are, in effect, reassembling the world into one enormous supercontinent - what biologists sometimes refer to as the New Pangaea.

Elizabeth Kolbert

#10. It's an Australian thing to be dismissive. We find that endearing. Americans don't. They believe what you say.

Nick Cave

#11. My Mother was a very wild Australian woman. When we were in Africa she could kill a snake with one blow from a crow bar, which she kept at the back door.

Mem Fox

#12. It's a huge honour to wear No 7 at Liverpool. I think about the legends: Dalglish, Keegan and that Australian guy.

Luis Suarez

#13. More ubiquitous mobile technologies have led to a significant shift from desktops and laptops to the use of mobile tablets. Australian schools are increasingly using apps as they become available to support education.

Susan Mann

#14. That, my dear, is a mystery to be solved.

Iris Blobel

#15. We know that a large majority of the Australian society is extremely comfortable with a multicultural society, that we accept that living in a democracy means having a freedom to practise your religion within the limits of the law.

Tim Soutphommasane

#16. I also love Australian movies. I love Muriel's Wedding - I've seen in six times. Baz Luhrmann's best movie is strictly ballroom ... without question.

Ridley Scott

#17. I was elected by the Australian people to bring back a fair go for all Australians. I have given my absolute best to do that.

Kevin Rudd

#18. I work with accent coaches a lot and try to do my best to get the Australian out of there.

Liam Hemsworth

#19. I was offered and accepted a part in 'A Few Best Men,' and then the Australian actor's union argued that there were too many British actors. And the director decided to lose me.

Noel Clarke

#20. I'm obviously coming out of the Australian summer with amazing momentum, knowing I can pretty much hang in there with anybody and even beat some of the best players. So for me, it's definitely a good feeling, I think.

Sloane Stephens

#21. Everyone tells me I have a funny accent. It's because I copy people. I learned English at school but have best friends who are French, Australian, English and American; a very weird mix.

Caroline Winberg

#22. In 'A Few Best Men,' I play a lesbian character. I played the lesbian sister of the bride who ends up kissing a dude at the end, but she was, like, a full-on lesbian in that. And I beat out famous Australian lesbians for the role.

Rebel Wilson

#23. For me, Brett Emerton is the heart and soul of the Australian team. Him signing for Sydney FC, it has to be the biggest catch in the history of Australian football. He's a machine and he's probably the best pro I've ever trained and worked with.

Tim Cahill

#24. I think Australian food is probably some of the best in the world.

Karrie Webb

#25. I'm in fact Australian but my mother's English so I've got no problem playing a domineering English woman.

Jacki Weaver

#26. The traditional dress of the Australian cricketer is the baggy green cap on the head and the chip on the shoulder. Both are ritualistically assumed

Simon Barnes

#27. Australian Aborigines say that the big stories - the stories worth telling and retelling, the ones in which you may find the meaning of your life - are forever stalking the right teller, sniffing and tracking like predators hunting their prey in the bush.

Robert Moss

#28. I wasn't aware of my dad being an actor when I was young. I remember there was an Australian children's entertainer on television called Ralph Harris and when I'd say my father was an actor, kids would say, you know, 'oh, is he Ralph Harris?' And I had to say no and then they would lose interest.

Jared Harris

#29. It's unfortunate, I've been the victim of some Australian press.

Cameron Van Der Burgh

#30. This is not a book about Australia. No, it's about somewhere entirely different which happens to be, here and there, a bit ... Australian. Still ... no worries, right?

Terry Pratchett

#31. For me, even just being English was a whole sort of experience in as much as I'm Australian.

Radha Mitchell

#32. There is something about the Australian psyche that seems to like films that are slightly offbeat.

Nick Park

#33. Eucalyptus. Murray Bail. Someone told me that this was a great novel so I bought it, but then I discovered that it was great Australian novel so I put it away. I find it difficult to get to grips with Australian novels. Difficult, but not impossible.

Susan Hill

#34. To the north the Indonesian Air Force strafed Australian ships that were attempting to repel refugees from Indonesia and Timor and Papua. In

James Bradley

#35. None of the serious maritime incidents I had to deal with as transport minister off the pristine Queensland or Western Australian coastline involved an Australian flagged and crewed vessel.

Anthony Albanese

#36. The Australian fans are really friendly and personable; the sense of humour is a lot less dry than the English.

Tom Hopper

#37. I started off in England and very few people knew I was Australian. I mean, the clues were in the poems, but they didn't read them very carefully, and so for years and years I was considered completely part of the English poetry scene.

Peter Porter

#38. My current fear is that the message being sent by the level of vitriol surrounding Gillard's flawed leadership (but tell me whose wasn't flawed) is being heard by Australian women and girls loud and clear. And the message is: 'Don't aspire to high office,sweetheart, because we'll flay you alive.'

Jane Caro

#39. The Australian people expect the Government to govern, they don't expect it to make excuses.

Tony Abbott

#40. Well, Australians should speak for the national interests of Australia, and whatever role former Australian prime ministers may have, one of the things you do is speak frankly about the country as you see the country's best interests, you know?

Paul Keating

#41. We cheer everyone who goes off to Hollywood and tells American stories but telling Australian stories is the greatest thing you can do.

Yahoo Serious

#42. A magpie can be happy or sad: sometimes so happy that he sits on a high, high gum tree and rolls the sunrise around in his throat like beads of pink sunlight; and sometimes so sad that you would expect the tears to drip off his beak.
This magpie was like that.

Colin Thiele

#43. And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

A.B. Paterson

#44. The only time an Australian ever walks is when his car runs out of petrol.

Barry Richards

#45. It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life. Heath Ledger's diverse and challenging roles will be remembered as some of the great performances by an Australian actor.

Kevin Rudd

#46. I was 15 years old at university, studying economics and philosophy, and I saw a retrospective of Australian film. They were very raw. 'Picnic at Hanging Rock,' 'Gallipoli;' they were fantastic.

Deborah Kara Unger

#47. I want to make sure we are presenting to the South Australian people a Government that is open and accountable. I want to make sure that we maintain public confidence in government at all levels.

Jay Weatherill

#48. Australia objects to the mini-skirt not on moral but on economic grounds. Australians are no prudes and the lovely, healthy, sporty Australian girls have no reason to hide their knees and thighs. However, the mini-skirt is disastrous for the wool-trade.

George Mikes

#49. My view of the charity world is that compared with business, there is too much talk, way too many meetings and expert panels and blue-ribbon commissions, and not enough action. Or as an Australian friend of mine once opined: "Sometimes you just have to have a go and get on with it, mate!".

John Wood

#50. We believe in the Australian promise; that if you work hard, you won't be left behind.

Wayne Swan