Island Nation Quotes

You Americans keep saying that Cuba is ninety miles from the United States. I say that the United States is ninety miles from Cuba and for us, that is worse.

I wonder what it's like to be from a state that is spread across a few islands way out in the Pacific Ocean, only added to the United States in 1959. Not only that but to be the birthplace of America's first black president? Pretty cool, I bet.

I was born in Sri Lanka.

I've been to Cuba many times.

Thankfully, we didn't stop at Malta. I think Malta was thankful, too.

Britain is a desirable place to live mainly because it is an island, which most people can't get to.

Ten Presidents have tried to do something about Cuba and the statis is quo.

In the 17th century, Barbados was regarded in London as 'the brightest jewel in the English crown'.

If you drive a nation to adopt procedures which run counter to its instincts, you weaken and may destroy the motive force of its action... I am speaking of the frequent suggestion that the United Kingdom should join a federation on the continent of Europe. This is something which we know, in our bones, we cannot do...For Britain's story and her interests lie far beyond the continent of Europe. Our thoughts move across the seas to the many communities in which our people play their part, in every corner of the world. These are our family ties. That is our life: without it we should be no more than some millions of people living in an island off the coast of Europe, in which nobody wants to take any particular interest.

I'm representing the Bahamas; I'm representing a lot of islands - it's a whole nation behind me, on my back.

We have the character of an island nation: independent, forthright, passionate in defence of our sovereignty. We can no more change this British sensibility than we can drain the English Channel. And because of this sensibility, we come to the European Union with a frame of mind that is more practical than emotional.

Climate change is not a theoretical question for the people of the Caribbean.

Set in this stormy Northern sea, Queen of these restless fields of tide, England! what shall men say of thee, Before whose feet the worlds divide?

Democracy is dead in the Maldives.

Looking out over the port of Dover, with the endless steam of boats coming in and out, every British citizen is reminded that belonging here has never been about blood or genes. It's simply about being at home on this discrete island and being aware of the privileges and responsibilities that brings.

I want to go to the Maldives before they sink, but just because it's the most beautiful place on earth.

I went to New Zealand this year, and, whew man, I know a lot of people want to go there. But let me just tell you, it's 22 hours by plane. So, if you have the opportunity, don't.

Those of you who have been there [Haiti] know it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It has everything. It has everything above the ground, and everything under the ground.... It is an amazing place. I strongly recommend that whenever you get a chance, if you haven't been there, that you go to Haiti. I think it was a certain Queen of England who said that after her death "Calais" would be found written on her heart. When I die, I think that "Haiti" is going to be written on my heart.

I was born in New Zealand, so I have a lot of family there.

Cuba has long played an outsized role in the world's imagination.

Great Britain.

We are trying to send our message to let the world know what is happening and what will happen to the Maldives if climate change isn't checked.

Living in New Zealand, it's like a different world - it is a different world. It's very, very cool.

One of my favorite places is the Maldives, an all-Muslim nation in the Indian Ocean with a culture that stretches back 5,000 years. But since the highest point in the archipelago is a meter or two above sea level, even the next hundred are not guaranteed. They've committed to becoming the first carbon-neutral nation on Earth by 2020, building windmills as fast as they can.