Top 135 Quotes & Sayings 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.

Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst.

One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without.

The past cannot be cured.

If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.

A strength to harm is perilous in the hand of an ambitious head.

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.

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.

He who placed me in this seat will keep me here.

I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.

Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.

Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind.

I do not want a husband who honours me as a queen, if he does not love me as a woman.

If we still advise we shall never do.

All my possessions for a moment of time.

Where might is mixed with wit, there is too good an accord in a government.

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.

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.

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.

Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.

I have the heart of a man, not a woman, and I am not afraid of anything.

The stone often recoils on the head of the thrower.

Monarchs ought to put to death the authors and instigators of war, as their sworn enemies and as dangers to their states.

A fool too late bewares when all the peril is past.

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.

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.

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.

Ye may have a greater prince, but ye shall never have a more loving prince.

I find that I sent wolves not shepherds to govern Ireland, for they have left me nothing but ashes and carcasses to reign over!

Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths.

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.

A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.

I do not choose that my grave should be dug while I am still alive.

I pray to God that I shall not live one hour after I have thought of using deception.

I would rather go to any extreme than suffer anything that is unworthy of my reputation, or of that of my crown.

It is a natural virtue incident to our sex to be pitiful of those that are afflicted.

Where minds differ and opinions swerve there is scant a friend in that company.

The end crowneth the work.

Chastity is the ermine of woman's soul.

A good face is the best letter of recommendation.

I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England.

When we hang on to resentments, we poison ourselves. As compulsive overeaters, we cannot afford resentment, since it exacerbates our disease.

There is no marvel in a woman learning to speak, but there would be in teaching her to hold her tongue

There is an Italian proverb which saith, From my enemy let me defend myself; but from a pretensed friend Lord deliver me

I do not want a husband who honors me as a queen if he does not love me as a woman.

I observe and remain silent.

Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst

Words are leaves, the substance consists of deeds, which are the true fruits of a good tree.

Men fight wars. Women win them.

I don't keep a dog and bark myself.

[To Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, on his return from self-imposed exile, occasioned by the embarrassing flatulence he had experienced in the presence of the Queen:] My Lord, I had forgot the fart.

It is hard to find beauty in the art of self expression.

Life is for living and working at. If you find anything or anybody a bore, the fault is in yourself.

Who seeketh two strings to one bow, they may shoot strong, but never straight.

I may not be a lion,but I am lions cub and I have lion's heart

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.

Grief never ends, but it changes. It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness nor a lack of faith: it is the price of love.

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.