All Quotes by Elizabeth I
“God forgive you, but I never can.”
“There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God.”
“God forgive you, but I never can.”
“The past cannot be cured.”
“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.”
“God forgive you, but I never can.”
“Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.”
“Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.”
“There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God.”
“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.”
“Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.”
“I would rather go to any extreme than suffer anything that is unworthy of my reputation, or of that of my crown.”
“If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.”
“A strength to harm is perilous in the hand of an ambitious head.”
“Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst.”
“Monarchs ought to put to death the authors and instigators of war, as their sworn enemies and as dangers to their states.”
“To be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.”
“Where minds differ and opinions swerve there is scant a friend in that company.”
“If we still advise we shall never do.”
“The stone often recoils on the head of the thrower.”
“My mortal foe can no ways wish me a greater harm than England's hate; neither should death be less welcome unto me than such a mishap betide me.”
“I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.”
“A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.”
“As for my own part I care not for death, for all men are mortal; and though I be a woman yet I have as good a courage answerable to my place as ever my father had. I am your anointed Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am indeed endowed with such qualities that if I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.”
“Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind.”
“I have the heart of a man, not a woman, and I am not afraid of anything.”
“I do not want a husband who honours me as a queen, if he does not love me as a woman.”
“Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths.”
“God has given such brave soldiers to this Crown that, if they do not frighten our neighbours, at least they prevent us from being frightened by them.”
“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.”
“Ye may have a greater prince, but ye shall never have a more loving prince.”
“I pray to God that I shall not live one hour after I have thought of using deception.”
“A fool too late bewares when all the peril is past.”
“The end crowneth the work.”
“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.”
“All my possessions for a moment of time.”
“One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without.”
“Where might is mixed with wit, there is too good an accord in a government.”
“Though I am not imperial, and though Elizabeth may not deserve it, the Queen of England will easily deserve to have an emperor's son to marry.”
“It is a natural virtue incident to our sex to be pitiful of those that are afflicted.”
“I find that I sent wolves not shepherds to govern Ireland, for they have left me nothing but ashes and carcasses to reign over!”
“I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.”
“I shall lend credit to nothing against my people which parents would not believe against their own children.”
“The word must is not to be used to princes.”
“I do not choose that my grave should be dug while I am still alive.”
“He who placed me in this seat will keep me here.”
“God forgive you, but I never can.”
“Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.”
“God has given such brave soldiers to this Crown that, if they do not frighten our neighbours, at least they prevent us from being frightened by them.”