“If ever there was a hard-headed and not a soft-hearted Sovereign it was she; if ever there was a place where there was little of that romantic sentiment of going abroad to do right and justice to other people, I think it was in that Tudor breast of our 'Good Queen Bess,' as well call her. … When I see the accounts of what passed when the [Dutch] envoys came to Queen Elizabeth and asked for aid, how she is huckstering for money while they are begging for help to their religion,—I declare that, with all my principles of non-intervention, I am almost ashamed of old Queen Bess. And then there were Burleigh, Walsingham, and the rest, who were, if possible, harder and more difficult to deal with than their mistress. Why, they carried out in its unvarnished selfishness a national British policy; they had no other idea of a policy but a national British policy, and they carried it out with a degree of selfishness amounting to downright avarice.”

— Richard Cobden

Speech in Rochdale (23 November 1864), quoted in John Bright and J. E. Thorold Rogers (eds.), Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, M.P. Volume II (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1908), pp. 484-5.
1860s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If ever there was a hard-headed and not a soft-hearted Sovereign it was she; if ever there was a place where there was …" by Richard Cobden?

Richard Cobden photo

Richard Cobden 56

English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman 1804–1865

Related quotes

“She hated that little voice inside her head. Like the Seelie Queen, it planted doubts where there shouldn't be doubts, asked questions that had no answer.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

“She [Queen Elizabeth II] is a person of sharp memory and has great knowledge about India. I met her first in 1933 during my maiden visit to England. It was long before her coronation. She was then Princess Elizabeth. Her father, then Duke of York, was also there when I saw her.”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (1922–2013) Maharaja of Travancore

After meeting Queen Elizabeth, in When 'Maharaja of Travancore' met Queen Elizabeth II (8 July 2012) http://www.ndtv.com/article/south/when-maharaja-of-travancore-met-queen-elizabeth-ii-240858

“Been alone so long
that I've forgotten what to do
how to make the whole thing right
and how to help if she's uptight
and when to run and when to fight...
how to make her stay the night -
that's if I ever knew.”

Judge Smith (1948) English songwriter, composer, performer

"Been Alone so Long"

“She had great knowledge about India. I again got startled when the Queen asked about my house in Bangalore. She said she had twice passed by my house at Nandi Hills during her visit to the place with the Maharaja of Mysore, who told her it belonged to the Elayaraja of Travancore.”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (1922–2013) Maharaja of Travancore

Quoted in "When 'Maharaja of Travancore' met Queen Elizabeth II (8 July 2012)".

“I always knew I'd never be the next queen. I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be queen.”

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) First wife of Charles, Prince of Wales

Interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (20 November 1995)

“I can give her no greater power than she has already," said the woman; "don't you see how strong that is? How men and animals are obliged to serve her, and how well she has got through the world, barefooted as she is. She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has, which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself obtain access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her.”

Hans Christian Andersen book The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen, Sixth Story
Fairy Tales (1835)

“Pantagruel was telling me that he believed the queen had given the symbolic word used among her subjects to denote sovereign good cheer, when she said to her tabachins, A panacea.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Chapter 20 : How the Quintessence cured the sick with a song

“All I could do is lie there and think about how much her voice changed when she asked me if she was pretty, and how much she changed when I answered.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“All ye that be lovers call unto your remembrance the month of May, like as did Queen Guenever, for whom I make here a little mention, that while she lived she was a true lover, and therefore she had a good end.”

Thomas Malory book Le Morte d'Arthur

Book XVIII, ch. 25
Le Morte d'Arthur (c. 1469) (first known edition 1485)

“There are a lot of people who helped make Queen Latifah who she is today. I don't forget, but a lot of people do and get big heads. My mom will make me walk the dogs or take out the trash when I go home. I'm not allowed to get a big head, I've still got to do the simple things in life.”

Queen Latifah (1970) American musician and actress

BBC Interview January 2003

Related topics