“One always has to accept one’s own part, I believe, in any mess.”
“Forgiveness is very important to me.”
“Would you like to know the principle, perhaps only advantage, of being the Chief Patron of the English Bowling Association? My fellow patrons are frequently too old or too ill to meet.”
“That’s the thing about unhappiness. All it takes is for something worse to come along and you realize it was actually happiness after all.”
“I am Queen, but I am also a woman. And a wife.”
“In an increasingly complex world, we all need certainty.”
“When is it, do you think, if one’s committed to a life of honesty, that one must start calling oneself ‘middle-aged?”
“It is not my job to govern. But it is my job to ensure proper governance.”
“To do nothing is often the best course of action, but I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be. History was not made by those who did nothing.”
“I am aware that I am surrounded by people who feel that they could do the job better, strong people with powerful characters, but for better or worse, the crown has landed on my head.”
“Look, I’m strong. You know that. And I can cope with the truth. I just demand to know the truth. It’s when people don’t tell me the truth that I can’t bear it.”
“The first 10 years of marriage are just an overture. That there’s often a crisis at 10 years, but then you work it out and settle in and it’s only then that it really gets into its stride.”
“In the first flush of a romantic love, we’re all blind. We see only what we want to see.”
“It is not my job to govern. But it is my job to ensure proper governance.”
“Some things can only be perceived one way because they only have one meaning.”
“That’s the thing about unhappiness. All it takes is for something worse to come along and you realize it was actually happiness after all.”
“In a rush to heal wounds you end up committing yourself to something, someone that isn’t quite right.”
“History was not made by those who did nothing.”
“To do nothing is often the best course of action.”
Sir Winston Churchill
“We’re all dying. That’s what defines the condition of living.”
“Too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing.”
“No man should be punished for love.”
“Where there is heroism there will always be hope.”
“People have to be angry at someone. But as leader, one cannot simply react to everything.”
“Many have questioned my relevance, whether I still have something to offer. In public life, the answer is, I have. Which is to leave in place a Sovereign prepared for office. Equipped, armed for her duty.”
“If there is one thing I’ve learned in 52 years of public service, it is that there is no problem so complex, nor crisis so grave that it cannot be satisfactorily resolved within twenty minutes.”
