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The English Character

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To other Europeans, the best known quality of the British,

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and in particular of the English, is “reserved”.

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A reserved person is one who does not talk very much to strangers,

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does not show much emotion, and seldom gets excited.

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It is difficult to get to know a reserved person:

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he never tells you anything about himself,

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and you may work with him for years without ever knowing where he lives,

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how many children he has, and what his interests are.

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English people tend to be like that.

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Closely related to English reserve is English modesty.

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Within their hearts, the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else,

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but in their relations with others they value at least a show of modesty.

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Self－praise is felt to be impolite.

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If a person is, let us say,

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very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player,

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he will seldom reply “Yes,”

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because people will think him conceited.

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He will probably give an answer like,

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“I’m not bad,” or “I think I’m very good,” or “Well, I’m very keen on tennis.”

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Even if he had managed to reach the finals in last year’s local championships,

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he would say it in such a way as to suggest that it was only due to a piece of good luck.

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Since reserve and modesty are part of his own nature,

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the typical English tends to expect them in others.

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He secretly looks down on more excitable nations,

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and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they are.

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He doesn’t trust big promises and open shows of feelings,

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especially if they are expressed in flowery language.

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He doesn’t trust self－praise of any kind.

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This applies not only to what other people may tell him about themselves orally,

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but to the letters they may write to him.

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To those who are fond of flowery expressions,

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the Englishman may appear uncomfortably cold.