Elizabeth II Quotes

When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.

Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.

Good memories are our second chance at happiness.

I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

Family does not necessarily mean blood relatives but often a description of a community, organisation or nation.

It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of humankind.

I have to be seen to be believed.

We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained.

They are not royal. They just happen to have me as their aunt.

It has turned out to be an annus horribilis.

Work is the rent you pay for the room you occupy on earth.

To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?

Cowards falter, but danger is often overcome by those who nobly dare.

In remembering the appalling suffering of war on both sides, we recognise how precious is the peace we have built in Europe since 1945.

True patriotism doesn't exclude an understanding of the patriotism of others.

The lessons from the peace process are clear; whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load.

[To a woman whose cellphone rang during a formal meeting:] You'd better answer that. It could be someone important.

I believe that there is a great fear in our generation of being labeled as priggish.

We lost the American colonies because we lacked the statesmanship to know the right time and the manner of yielding what is impossible to keep.

I should like to be a horse.

For me, heaven is likely to be a bit of a come-down.

I hope people will think very carefully about the future.

My husband has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years, and I owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim.

What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass.

Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.

Madam President, speaking here in Dublin Castle it is impossible to ignore the weight of history, as it was yesterday when you and I laid wreaths at the Garden of Remembrance.

It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all.

The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women

[Before each of numerous portrait sittings:] Now then, with teeth or without?

Football's a difficult business and aren't they prima donnas. But it's a wonderful game.

[On the 1982 intruder into her bedroom:] I realized immediately that it wasn't a servant because they don't slam doors.

1992 is not a year I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it hasturned out to be an Annus Horribilis.

Think what we would have missed if we had never ... used a mobile phone or surfed the Net -- or, to be honest, listened to other people talking about surfing the Net.

I myself prefer my New Zealand eggs for breakfast.

This new power, which has proved itself to be such a terrifying weapon of destruction, is harnessed for the first time for the common good of our community.

Families, friends and communities often find a source of courage rising up from within. Indeed, sadly, it seems that it is tragedy that often draws out the most and the best from the human spirit.

It is easy enough to define what the Commonwealth is not. Indeed this is quite a popular pastime.

The British Constitution has always been puzzling and always will be.

These wretched babies don't come until they are ready.

[To the suggestion that Great Britain might someday want a Republic:] We'll go quietly.

For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first.

We have all felt those emotions in these last few days. So what I say to you now, as your queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.

It is as queen of Canada that I am here. Queen of Canada and all Canadians, not just one or two ancestral strains.

I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.

The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.

Like all best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.

At its heart, engineering is about using science to find creative, practical solutions. It is a noble profession.

The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts.