Elizabeth I Famous Quotes
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Be of good cheer, for you will never want, for the bullet was meant for me, though it hit you.
I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people.
The true sin against the Holy Ghost is ingratitude.
[On Thomas Seymour's death:] This day died a man of much wit and very little judgment.
I observe and remain silent.
Affection! Affection is false.
[I]n the end this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin.
Men fight wars. Women win them.
[On being told Mary, Queen of Scots, was taller than she:] Then she is too high, for I myself am neither too high nor too low.
I have seen many a man turn his gold into smoke, but you are the first who has turned smoke into gold.
Monarchs ought to put to death the authors and instigators of war, as their sworn enemies and as dangers to their states.
Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths.
I would not open windows into men's souls.
I grieve and dare not show my discontent,
I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute but inwardly do prate.
I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned,
Since from myself another self I turned.
My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
As for me, I see no such great cause why I should either be fond to live or fear to die. I have had good experience of this world, and I know what it is to be a subject and what to be a sovereign. Good neighbours I have had, and I have met with bad: and in trust I have found treason.
Eyes of youth have sharp sight but commonly not so deep as those of elder age.
Young heads take example of the ancient
I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire that my name may be recorded in a line or two, which shall briefly express my name, my virginity, the years of my reign, the reformation of religion under it, and my preservation of peace.
I am more afraid of making a fault in my Latin than of the Kings of Spain, France, Scotland, the whole House of Guise, and all of their confederates.
Mr. Doctor, that loose gown becomes you so well I wonder your notions should be so narrow.
A strength to harm is perilous in the hand of an ambitious head.
There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God.
Where might is mixed with wit, there is too good an accord in a government.
I am already bound unto an husband, which is the kingdom of England.
I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king
Answer on being asked her opinion of Christ's presence in the Sacrament. 'Twas God the word that spake it, He took the Bread and brake it; And what the word did make it That I believe, and take it.
The past can not be cured.
If we still advise we shall never do.
If there were two princes in Christendom who had good will and courage, it would be very easy to reconcile the religious difficulties; there is only one Jesus Christ and one faith, and all the rest is a dispute over trifles.
I have the heart of a man, not a woman, and I am not afraid of anything.
Have a care over my people. You have my people
do you that which I ought to do. They are my people ... See unto them
see unto them, for they are my charge ... I care not for myself; my life is not dear to me. My care is for my people. I pray God, whoever succeedeth me, be as careful of them as I am.
O Fortune, how thy restless, wavering state has fraught with cares my troubled wit!
The sea, as well as the air, is a free and common thing to all; and a particular nation cannot pretend to have the right to the exclusion of all others, without violating the rights of nature and public usage.
Chastity is the ermine of woman's soul.
Life is for living and working at. If you find anything or anybody a bore, the fault is in yourself.
I would rather go to any extreme than suffer anything that is unworthy of my reputation, or of that of my crown.
Kings were wont to honour philosophers, but if I had such I would honour them as angels that should have such piety in them that they would not seek where they are the second to be the first, and where the third to be the second and so forth.
When we hang on to resentments, we poison ourselves. As compulsive overeaters, we cannot afford resentment, since it exacerbates our disease.
A meal of bread, cheese and beer constitutes the perfect food.
I will never be by violence constrained to do anything.
Let the good service of well-deservers be never rewarded with loss. Let their thanks be such as may encourage more strivers for the like.
I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.
For, what is a family without a steward, a ship without a pilot, a flock without a shepherd, a body without a head, the same, I think, is a kingdom without the health and safety of a good monarch.
[ellipsis in source] it is true that the world was made in six days, but it was by God, to whose power the infirmity of men isnot to be compared.
It is a natural virtue incident to our sex to be pitiful of those that are afflicted.
If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.
A fool too late bewares when all the peril is past.
I pray to God that I shall not live one hour after I have thought of using deception.
(Response to King Erik XIV of Sweden's proposal of marriage:)
"[W]hile we perceive ... the zeal and love of your mind towards us is not diminished, yet in part we are grieved that we cannot gratify your Serene Highness with the same kind of affection. And that indeed does not happen because we doubt in any way of your love and honour, but, as often we have testified both in words and writing, that we have never yet conceived a feeling of that kind of affection towards anyone.
We therefore beg your Serene Highness again and again that you be pleased to set a limit to your love, that it advance not beyond the laws of friendship for the present nor disregard them in the future. ...
We certainly think that if God ever direct our hearts to consideration of marriage we shall never accept or choose any absent husband how powerful and wealthy a Prince soever. But that we are not to give you an answer until we have seen your person is so far from the thing itself that we never even considered such a thing. I have always given both to your brother ... and also to your ambassador likewise the same answer with scarcely any variation of the words, that we do not conceive in our heart to take a husband but highly commend this single life, and hope that your Serene Highness will no longer spend time in waiting for us.
Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst.
Much suspected by me, Nothing proved can be
A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing
If our web be framed with rotten handles, when our loom is well nigh done, our work is new to begin. God send the weaver true prentices again, and let them be denizens.
All my possessions for a moment of time.
There is nothing in the world I hold in greater horror than to see a body moving against its head: and I shall be very careful notto ally myself with such a monster.
Where minds differ and opinions swerve there is scant a friend in that company.
Must! Is must a word to be addressed to princes? Little man, little man! Thy father, if he had been alive, durst not have used that word.
God forgive you, but I never can.
[When opposed by leaders of her Council:] I will make you shorter by the head!
I have never been able to be so allured by the prospect of advantages or so terrified by misfortunes, swayed by honours or fettered by affection, nay not even so smitten by the fear of death, as to enter upon marriage.
I may not be a lion,but I am lions cub and I have lion's heart
Had I been crested, not cloven, my Lords, you had not treated me thus.
Ye may have a greater prince, but ye shall never have a more loving prince.
I do not want a husband who honours me as a queen, if he does not love me as a woman.
One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without.
I pluck up the good lissome herbs of sentences by pruning, eat them by reading, digest them by musing, and lay them up at length in the high seat of memory.
I would not have my sheep branded with any other mark than my own, or follow the whistle of a strange shepherd.
I regret the unhappiness of princes who are slaves to forms and fettered by caution.
There will never Queen sit in my seat with more zeal to my country, care to my subjects and that will sooner with willingness venture her life for your good and safety than myself. For it is my desire to live nor reign no longer than my life and reign shall be for your good. And though you have had, and may have, many princes more mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never had nor shall have, any that will be more careful and loving.
Semper eadem", always the same...
A good face is the best letter of recommendation.
There is small disproportion betwixt a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not and him that useth it not when it should avail him.
When I was fair and young, and favor graced me,
Of many was I sought, their mistress for to be;
But I did scorn them all, and answered them therefore,
Go, go, go seek some otherwhere!
Importune me no more!
I shall lend credit to nothing against my people which parents would not believe against their own children.
I don't keep a dog and bark myself.
This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
There is an Italian proverb which saith, From my enemy let me defend myself; but from a pretensed friend Lord deliver me
Be always faithful to me, as I always desire to keep you in peace; and if there have been wiser kings, none has ever loved you more than I have.
My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourself to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people ... I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any Prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm.
The daughter of debate That still discord doth sow.
I give you this charge, that you shall be of my Privy Council and content yourself to take pains for me and my realm. This judgement I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any manner of gift and that you will be faithful to the State, and that without respect of my private will, you will give me that counsel that you think best: and, if you shall know anything necessary to be declared to me of secrecy, you shall show it to myself only and assure yourself I will not fail to keep taciturnity therein. And therefore herewith I charge you.
Administering the oath of office to William Cecil as Secretary of State, November 20, 1558, as quoted in Elizabeth I: The Word of a Prince, A Life from Contemporary Documents, by Maria Perry, Chapter V, Section: To make a good account to Almighty God
We Princes are set as it were upon stages, in the sight and view of all the world. The least spot is soon spied in our garments, a blemish quickly noticed in our doings.
[To Parliament, when it urged her to marry and settle the succession:] You attend to your own duties and I'll perform mine.
I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England.
There is a close tie of affection between sovereigns and their subjects; and as chaste wives should have no eyes but for their husbands, so faithful liegemen should keep their regards at home and not look after foreign crowns. For my part I like not for my sheep to wear a stranger's mark nor to dance after a foreigner's whistle.
My seat has been the seat of kings, and I will have no rascal to succeed me.
Prosperity provideth, but adversity proveth friends.
It is hard to find beauty in the art of self expression.
The word must is not to be used to princes.
He that will forget God, will also forget his benefactors.
I do not choose that my grave should be dug while I am still alive.
I find that I sent wolves not shepherds to govern Ireland, for they have left me nothing but ashes and carcasses to reign over!
Who seeketh two strings to one bow, they may shoot strong, but never straight ...
Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: That I have reigned with your loves.