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

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.

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

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

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

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

The events that I have attended to mark my Diamond Jubilee have been a humbling experience. It has touched me deeply to see so many thousands of families, neighbors and friends celebrating together in such a happy atmosphere.

The world is not the most pleasant place. Eventually, your parents leave you and nobody is going to go out of their way to protect you unconditionally.

I have behind me not only the splendid traditions and the annals of more than a thousand years but the living strength and majesty of the Commonwealth and Empire; of societies old and new; of lands and races different in history and origins but all, by God’s Will, united in spirit and in aim.

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

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.

I should like to be a horse.

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.

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.

You need to learn to stand up for yourself and what you believe and sometimes, pardon my language, kick some ass.

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

For Christians, as for all people of faith, reflection, meditation and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God’s love, as we strive daily to become better people.

Religion is like a personal computer. You let people in if you want to… We’re all gods.

Why don’t you bring your face up here and let me punch it? Then you can tell me (if I’m stronger).

Not to take possession of your life plan is to let your existence be an accident.

Let’s not forget, art can sell. You ain’t gotta front all the time on your records.

Let me be accurate in everything, for though you and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think that I, Van Helsing, am mad. That the many horrors and the so long strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain.

Let yourself go. Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them.

Anonymity lets me concentrate exclusively on writing.

If I let a little of the emotion out, all of it will come out, and it will never end.