"If I am to disclose to you what I should prefer if I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married." -- Queen Elizabeth I, 1563 (attributed) "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; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm." -- Queen Elizabeth I, 1588, in her speech to the English troops at Tilbury during the approach of the Spanish Armada "My lord, we make use of you, not for your bad legs, but for your good head." -- Queen Elizabeth I, c. 1590, to her courtier, William Cecil, who was suffering from gout "Little man, little man, the word 'must' is not to be used to princes!" -- Queen Elizabeth I, 1603, to Robert Cecil who had told Elizabeth, during her final illness, that she must go to bed

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