HB Queen Elizabeth I, 7 Sep 1533

I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms: to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms; I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.-Queen Elizabeth I Speech to her armies shortly before the sea battle in the English that defeated the Armada, 1588

I have known many persons who turned their gold into smoke, but you are the first to turn smoke into gold. - Queen Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603), to Sir Water Raleigh

I plucke up the goodlie greene herbes of sentences by pruning, eat them by reading, chawe them by musing, and laie them up at length in the hie seate of memorie by gathering them together; that I, having tasted the sweetenes, l may the lesse perceave the bitternes of this miserable life. ~Elizabeth I 1533-1603 - written in copy of the Epistles of St Paul, ( c.August 1576 )