Elizabeth I

I will rather be a beggar than a queen, if I cannot govern as I please.

I know how to rule, and I will rule.

God forgive you, but you have done God's work.

I have desired to live to see this day, wherein I have had a sight of my people. I bless God that I am come amongst you, and I hope I shall never depart from you.

Though I may not have children of my body, I shall never be without them in my heart.

There is no prince in the world who has such subjects as I have, and I will not change them for any other, not even for the King of Spain's Indies.

This is a thing that I have ever feared above all things.

I am not afraid of the word 'danger,' for I was born in it.

I assure you I am more afraid of you than of the King of Spain.

I will not open my window to see the passage of rebels.

I should be sorry to have such a husband as would not be content to be governed by me.

Princes, you know, are set as it were upon stages, in the sight and view of all the world.

I am resolved in the name of God to be a king and rule, and I will gladly do so.

God has given me a kingdom, and I will govern it.

I know the least of any creature that is in the world.

My power is my people.

I am no more afraid of death than I am of marriage.

If I am not Queen, then I am not English.

I will make a good end to my life, if I cannot make a better beginning.

The Queen of Scots is a most dangerous woman.