Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. Elizabeth was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed when Elizabeth was two years old.
Elizabeth I Quotes
1. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
2. “I observe and remain silent.”
— Elizabeth I
3. “A good face is the best letter of recommendation.”
— Elizabeth I
4. “Men fight wars. Women win them.”
— Elizabeth I
5. “God forgive you, but I never can.”
— Elizabeth I
6. “A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.”
— Elizabeth I
7. “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
— Elizabeth I
8. “I would not open windows into men’s souls.”
— Elizabeth I
9. “Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.”
— Elizabeth I
10. “The past cannot be cured.”
— Elizabeth I
11. “There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith. All else is a dispute over trifles.”
— Elizabeth I
12. “If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married.”
— Elizabeth I
13. “I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.”
— Elizabeth I
14. “All my possessions for a moment of time.”
— Elizabeth I
15. “One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without.”
— Elizabeth I
16. “Eyes of youth have sharp sight but commonly not so deep as those of elder age.”
— Elizabeth I
17. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
18. “I would rather go to any extreme than suffer anything that is unworthy of my reputation, or of that of my crown.”
— Elizabeth I
19. “I cannot find it in me to fear a man who took ten years a learning of his alphabet.”
— Elizabeth I
20. “I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England.”
— Elizabeth I
21. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
22. “Had I been crested, not cloven, my Lords, you had not treated me thus.”
— Elizabeth I
23. “Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.”
— Elizabeth I
24. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
25. “I have seen many a man turn his gold into smoke, but you are the first who has turned smoke into gold.”
— Elizabeth I
26. “I have the heart of a man, not a woman, and I am not afraid of anything.”
— Elizabeth I
27. “There is no marvel in a woman learning to speak, but there would be in teaching her to hold her tongue.”
— Elizabeth I
28. “There is an Italian proverb which saith, From my enemy let me defend myself; but from a pretensed friend Lord deliver me.”
— Elizabeth I
29. “Chastity is the ermine of woman’s soul.”
— Elizabeth I
30. “A fool too late bewares when all the peril is past.”
— Elizabeth I
31. “The stone often recoils on the head of the thrower.”
— Elizabeth I
32. “Ye may have a greater prince, but ye shall never have a more loving prince.”
— Elizabeth I
33. “Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: That I have reigned with your loves.”
— Elizabeth I
34. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
35. “When we hang on to resentments, we poison ourselves. As compulsive overeaters, we cannot afford resentment, since it exacerbates our disease.”
— Elizabeth I
36. “The daughter of debate That still discord doth sow.”
— Elizabeth I
37. “They best pass over the world who trip over it quickly; for it is but a bog. If we stop, we sink.”
— Elizabeth I
38. “He that will forget God, will also forget his benefactors.”
— Elizabeth I
39. “Although I may not be a lioness, I am a lion’s cub, and inherit many of his qualities; and as long as the King of France treats me gently he will find me as gentle and tractable as he can desire; but if he be rough, I shall take the trouble to be just as troublesome and offensive to him as I can.”
— Elizabeth I
40. “Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects.”
— Elizabeth I
41. “Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths.”
— Elizabeth I
42. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
43. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
44. “A meal of bread, cheese and beer constitutes the perfect food.”
— Elizabeth I
45. “Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst.”
— Elizabeth I
46. “Young heads take example of the ancient.”
— Elizabeth I
47. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
48. “It is monstrous that the feet should direct the head.”
— Elizabeth I
49. “The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy.”
— Elizabeth I
50. “I do not want a husband who honours me as a queen, if he does not love me as a woman.”
— Elizabeth I
51. “Much suspected by me, Nothing proved can be.”
— Elizabeth I
52. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
53. “Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.”
— Elizabeth I
54. “If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.”
— Elizabeth I
55. “Words are leaves, the substance consists of deeds, which are the true fruits of a good tree.”
— Elizabeth I
56. “The name of a successor is like the tolling of my own death-bell!”
— Elizabeth I
57. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
58. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
59. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
60. “The use of sea and air is common to all; neither can a title to the ocean belong to any people or private persons, forasmuch as neither nature nor public use and custom permit any possession therof.”
— Elizabeth I
61. “I thank God I am endued 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.”
— Elizabeth I
62. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
63. “A strength to harm is perilous in the hand of an ambitious head.”
— Elizabeth I
64. “Monarchs ought to put to death the authors and instigators of war, as their sworn enemies and as dangers to their states.”
— Elizabeth I
65. “I will have but one mistress and no master.”
— Elizabeth I
66. “Where minds differ and opinions swerve there is scant a friend in that company.”
— Elizabeth I
67. “The end crowneth the work.”
— Elizabeth I
68. “My seat has been the seat of kings, and I will have no rascal to succeed me.”
— Elizabeth I
69. “I don’t keep a dog and bark myself.”
— Elizabeth I
70. “I pray to God that I shall not live one hour after I have thought of using deception.”
— Elizabeth I
71. “Princes have big ears which hear far and near.”
— Elizabeth I
72. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
73. “Although my royal rank causes me to doubt whether my kingdom is not more sought after than myself, yet I understand that you havefound other graces in me.”
— Elizabeth I
74. “Hang Irish harpers wherever found.”
— Elizabeth I
75. “There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God.”
— Elizabeth I
76. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
77. “O Fortune, how thy restless, wavering state has fraught with cares my troubled wit!”
— Elizabeth I
78. “No foteball player be used or suffered within the City of London and the liberties thereof upon pain of imprisonment.”
— Elizabeth I
79. “The true sin against the Holy Ghost is ingratitude.”
— Elizabeth I
80. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
81. “I will be as good unto ye as ever a Queen was unto her people. No will in me can lack, neither do I trust shall there lack any power. And persuade yourselves that for the safety and quietness of you all I will not spare if need be to spend my blood.”
— Elizabeth I
82. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
83. “I regret the unhappiness of princes who are slaves to forms and fettered by caution.”
— Elizabeth I
84. “Affection! Affection is false.”
— Elizabeth I
85. “It has been always held for a special principle in friendship that prosperity provideth but adversity proveth friends…”
— Elizabeth I
86. “He who placed me in this seat will keep me here.”
— Elizabeth I
87. “Proud Prelate, you know what you were before I made you what you are. If you do not immediately comply with my request I will unfrock you by God”!”
— Elizabeth I
88. “If we still advise we shall never do.”
— Elizabeth I
89. “Prosperity provideth, but adversity proveth friends.”
— Elizabeth I
90. “I shall lend credit to nothing against my people which parents would not believe against their own children.”
— Elizabeth I
91. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
92. “Mr. Doctor, that loose gown becomes you so well I wonder your notions should be so narrow.”
— Elizabeth I
93. “I will never be by violence constrained to do anything.”
— Elizabeth I
94. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
95. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
96. “If I should say the sweetest speech with the eloquentest tongue that ever was in man, I were not able to express that restless care which I have ever bent to govern for the greatest wealth.”
— Elizabeth I
97. “It is good to jest, but not to make a trade of jesting.”
— Elizabeth I
98. “Be of good cheer, for you will never want, for the bullet was meant for me, though it hit you.”
— Elizabeth I
99. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
100. “Where might is mixed with wit, there is too good an accord in a government.”
— Elizabeth I
101. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
102. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
103. “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.”
— Elizabeth I
104. “I would gladly chastise those who represent things as different from what they are. Those who steal property or make counterfeit money are punished, and those ought to be still more severely dealt with who steal away or falsify the good name of a prince.”
— Elizabeth I
105. “The word must is not to be used to princes.”
— Elizabeth I
106. “Life is for living and working at. If you find anything or anybody a bore, the fault is in yourself.”
— Elizabeth I
107. “I do not choose that my grave should be dug while I am still alive.”
— Elizabeth I
108. “It is hard to find beauty in the art of self expression.”
— Elizabeth I
109. “I find that I sent wolves not shepherds to govern Ireland, for they have left me nothing but ashes and carcasses to reign over!”
— Elizabeth I
