Quotes about queen
page 5

Daisy Ashford photo
Ambrose Bierce photo
Dennis Skinner photo

“Royal Mail for sale, Queen's head privatised.”

Dennis Skinner (1932) British politician

Watch Dennis Skinner heckle cause laughter among MPs at State Opening of Parliament http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/watch-dennis-skinner-heckle-cause-1877167 Daily Mirror, 8 May 2013
2010s

Gottfried Leibniz photo
Eusebius of Caesarea photo
Robert Charles Wilson photo

“To capture the pawn, threaten the queen.”

Robert Charles Wilson (1953) author

The Fields of Abraham (p. 37)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)

Neal Stephenson photo
Honoré de Balzac photo
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo
Rudyard Kipling photo
Gough Whitlam photo

“Well may we say "God save the Queen", because nothing will save the Governor-General! The Proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General's Official Secretary was countersigned "Malcolm Fraser," who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr's cur. They won't silence the outskirts of Parliament House, even if the inside has been silenced for the next few weeks … Maintain your rage and enthusiasm for the campaign for the election now to be held and until polling day.”

Gough Whitlam (1916–2014) Australian politician, 21st Prime Minister of Australia

On hearing the proclamation dismissing him from office, which ended with the previous official wording "God Save the Queen" which had been abolished by his government and unilaterally re-instated by David Smith, the Governor-General's Official Secretary, at that moment - the first of many changes undertaken by the so-called "caretaker" government.

Source: [Gough Whitlam dead: His memorable quotes, 21 October 2014, 2 May 2019, https://www.smh.com.au/national/gough-whitlam-dead-his-memorable-quotes-20141021-1193jd.html, Sydney Morning Herald, smh.com.au, Murphy, D]

Robert Jordan photo
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough photo

“I have not time to say more but to beg you will give my duty to the Queen, and let her know Her army has had a Glorious Victory.”

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) English soldier and statesman

Marlborough's message to Sarah Churchill scribbled on the back of a tavern reckoning while on horseback during the Battle of Blenheim (13 August 1704), quoted in Correlli Barnett, Marlborough (Wordsworth, 1999), p. 121.

Stephen King photo

“Did you know that Dairy Queen ice cream is mostly bubbles?”

Frannie
The Stand (1978)

Henry Fielding photo
Alfred Denning, Baron Denning photo
David Bowie photo

“I, I will be king.
And you, you will be queen.
Though nothing will drive them away.
We can beat them, just for one day.
We can be heroes, just for one day.”

David Bowie (1947–2016) British musician, actor, record producer and arranger

"Heroes", written with Brian Eno
Song lyrics, "Heroes" (1977)

Warren Zevon photo
Mike Oldfield photo
Enoch Powell photo

“One of the most dangerous words is 'extremist'. A person who commits acts of violence is not an 'extremist'; he is a criminal. If he commits those acts of violence with the object of detaching part of the territory of the United Kingdom and attaching it to a foreign country, he is an enemy under arms. There is the world of difference between a citizen who commits a crime, in the belief, however mistaken, that he is thereby helping to preserve the integrity of his country and his right to remain a subject of his sovereign, and a person, be he citizen or alien, who commits a crime with the intention of destroying that integrity and rendering impossible that allegiance. The former breaches the peace; the latter is executing an act of war. The use of the word 'extremist' of either or both conveys a dangerous untruth: it implies that both hold acceptable opinions and seek permissible ends, only that they carry them to 'extremes'. Not so: the one is a lawbreaker; the other is an enemy.

The same purpose, that of rendering friend and foe indistinguishable, is achieved by references to the 'impartiality' of the British troops and to their function as 'keeping the peace'. The British forces are in Northern Ireland because an avowed enemy is using force of arms to break down lawful authority in the province and thereby seize control. The army cannot be 'impartial' towards an enemy, nor between the aggressor and the aggressed: they are not glorified policemen, restraining two sets of citizens who might otherwise do one another harm, and duty bound to show no 'partiality' towards one lawbreaker rather than another. They are engaged in defeating an armed attack upon the state. Once again, the terminology is designed to obliterate the vital difference between friend and enemy, loyal and disloyal.

Then there are the 'no-go' areas which have existed for the past eighteen months. It would be incredible, if it had not actually happened, that for a year and a half there should be areas in the United Kingdom where the Queen's writ does not run and where the citizen is protected, if protected at all, by persons and powers unknown to the law. If these areas were described as what they are—namely, pockets of territory occupied by the enemy, as surely as if they had been captured and held by parachute troops—then perhaps it would be realised how preposterous is the situation. In fact the policy of refraining from the re-establishment of civil government in these areas is as wise as it would be to leave enemy posts undisturbed behind one's lines.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Speech to the South Buckinghamshire Conservative Women's Annual Luncheon in Beaconsfield (19 March 1971), from Reflections of a Statesman. The Writings and Speeches of Enoch Powell (London: Bellew, 1991), pp. 487-488.
1970s

Boris Johnson photo
John Aubrey photo
Katherine Paterson photo
Frederick Douglass photo

“The Constitution forbids the passing of a bill of attainder: that is, a law entailing upon the child the disabilities and hardships imposed upon the parent. Every slave law in America might be repealed on this very ground. The slave is made a slave because his mother is a slave. But to all this it is said that the practice of the American people is against my view. I admit it. They have given the Constitution a slaveholding interpretation. I admit it. Thy have committed innumerable wrongs against the Negro in the name of the Constitution. Yes, I admit it all; and I go with him who goes farthest in denouncing these wrongs. But it does not follow that the Constitution is in favor of these wrongs because the slaveholders have given it that interpretation. To be consistent in his logic, the City Hall speaker must follow the example of some of his brothers in America — he must not only fling away the Constitution, but the Bible. The Bible must follow the Constitution, for that, too, has been interpreted for slavery by American divines. Nay, more, he must not stop with the Constitution of America, but make war with the British Constitution, for, if I mistake not, the gentleman is opposed to the union of Church and State. In America he called himself a Republican. Yet he does not go for breaking down the British Constitution, although you have a Queen on the throne, and bishops in the House of Lords.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1860s, The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery? (1860)

Robert Jordan photo

“Even a queen stubs her toe, but a wise woman watches the path.”

Robert Jordan (1948–2007) American writer

Lini
(15 October 1993)

Victoria of the United Kingdom photo
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley photo
John Mayer photo
Torquato Tasso photo

“Black was this queen as jet, yet on her eyes
Sweet loveliness in black attired lies.”

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet

Bruna e si, ma il bruno il bel non toglie.
Canto XII, stanza 21 (tr. Fairfax)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

Kathy Griffin photo
Suzanne Vega photo

“The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door,
He said "I am not fighting for you any more."”

Suzanne Vega (1959) American singer

The Queen and the Soldier
Suzanne Vega (1985)

Margrethe II of Denmark photo
Anthony Burgess photo
Ilana Mercer photo

“Like or dislike her, the British Queen is harmless. Her role is purely ceremonial. Conversely, life and death are in the hands of the monarch who sits in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“Mobocracy vs. Monarchy,” http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=602 WorldNetDaily.com, May 20, 2011.
2010s, 2011

Tom Petty photo

“Little miss queen of hearts you're a strange thing.
Why you wanna stay so vague?
I'm wandering through this mess you've made
To see what I can save.”

Tom Petty (1950–2017) American musician

Too Much Ain't Enough
Lyrics, You're Gonna Get It! (1978)

Bob Dylan photo
Thomas Sturge Moore photo

“For milkmaids and queens and gipsy-princesses
Dream and kiss blindfold or starve upon guesses.”

Thomas Sturge Moore (1870–1944) British playwright, poet and artist

"Reason Enough", line 7; from The Sea is Kind (London: Grant Richards, 1914) p. 75.

Christopher Pitt photo

“Ah, mighty Queen! you urge me to disclose,
And feel, once more, unutterable woes.”

Christopher Pitt (1699–1748) English poet

Book II, line 3
The Æneid of Virgil (1740)

Stanley Baldwin photo
John Ogilby photo

“The Queen neglected Fame for Love.”

John Ogilby (1600–1676) Scottish academic

The Works of Publius Virgilius Maro (2nd ed. 1654), Virgil's Æneis

Vālmīki photo
Martin Farquhar Tupper photo

“Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure,
Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gayety”

Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) English writer and poet

Of Death.
Proverbial Philosophy (1838-1849)
Context: Naples sitteth by the sea, keystone of an arch of azure,
Crowned by consenting nations peerless queen of gayety:
She laugheth at the wrath of Ocean, she mocketh the fury of Vesuvius,
She spurneth disease, and misery, and famine, that crowd her sunny streets.

Bill Bailey photo

“"God save our gracious Queen": Why would we invoke a non-specific deity to bail out these unelected spongers? [Audience wildly applauds]”

Bill Bailey (1965) English comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author

Part Troll (2004)

Alfred Russel Wallace photo

“If I had to fix on two only as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly choose the Durian and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.”

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist

Letter to Sir William Jackson Hooker, (1856 or earlier).
Context: The smell of the ripe fruit is certainly at first disagreeable, though less so when it has newly fallen from the tree; for the moment it is ripe it falls of itself, and the only way to eat Durians in perfection is to get them as they fall. It would perhaps not be correct to say that the Durian is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of subacid juicy fruits such as the orange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and cooling qualities are so grateful; but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavour it is unsurpassed. If I had to fix on two only as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly choose the Durian and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.

Julie Andrews photo

“I'm more contented and at peace with myself now than I was as a box-office queen.”

Julie Andrews (1935) British actress, singer, author, theatre director, and dancer

Saturday Evening Post (February 1980)
Context: I'm more contented and at peace with myself now than I was as a box-office queen. I'm less uptight. I've even reached a stage where it doesn't shatter me if somebody prints something bad about me.

Suzanne Collins photo

“Tell him your country fought a war so you wouldn't have to answer to kings and queens."”

Henry, Gregor, and Ripred, p. 217
The Underland Chronicles, Gregor the Overlander (2003)
Context: "Luxa and I do not serve food, we are royalty." "Yeah, well, I'm the warrior and Boots is a princess. And you two are going to get pretty hungry if you're waiting for me to serve you." "Tell him, boy. Tell him your country fought a war so you wouldn't have to answer to kings and queens."

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“It fills the world with melody — for music is the voice of love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Orthodoxy (1884).
Context: Love is the only bow on Life's dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart — builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody — for music is the voice of love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo

“Insipid as the queen upon a card.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate

Aylmer's Field (1864); reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Francois Rabelais photo

“On the third day the sky seemed to us somewhat clearer, and we happily arrived at the port of Mateotechny, not far distant from Queen Whims, alias the Quintessence.”

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Ch. 19 : How we arrived at the queendom of Whims or Entelechy
Context: On the third day the sky seemed to us somewhat clearer, and we happily arrived at the port of Mateotechny, not far distant from Queen Whims, alias the Quintessence.
We met full butt on the quay a great number of guards and other military men that garrisoned the arsenal, and we were somewhat frighted at first because they made us all lay down our arms, and in a haughty manner asked us whence we came.

Virgil photo

“I shall never deny what you deserve, my queen,
never regret my memories of Dido, not while I
can recall myself and draw the breath of life.”

Numquam, regina, negabo Promeritam, nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus.

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Lines 334–336 (tr. Fagles); Aeneas to Dido.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo

“First pledge our Queen this solemn night,
Then drink to England, every guest;
That man's the best Cosmopolite
Who loves his native country best.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate

" Hands All Round http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/T/TennysonAlfred/verse/tiresias/handsallround.html", l. 1-4 (1885)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo
Robert H. Jackson photo

“The record is full of other examples of dissimulations and evasions. Even Schacht showed that he, too, had adopted the Nazi attitude that truth is any story which succeeds. Confronted on cross-examination with a long record of broken vows and false words, he declared in justification and I quote from the record: "I think you can score many more successes when you want to lead someone if you don't tell them the truth than if you tell them the truth." This was the philosophy of the National Socialists. When for years they have deceived the world, and masked falsehood with plausibilities, can anyone be surprised that they continue their habits of a lifetime in this dock? Credibility is one of the main issues of this Trial. Only those who have failed to learn the bitter lessons of the last decade can doubt that men who have always played on the unsuspecting credulity of generous opponents would not hesitate to do the same, now. It is against such a background that these defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring to commit this long list of crimes and wrongs. They stand before the record of this Trial as bloodstained Gloucester stood by the body of his slain king. He begged of the widow, as they beg of you: "Say I slew them not." And the Queen replied, "Then say they were not slain. But dead they are…"”

Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) American judge

If you were to say of these men that they are not guilty, it would be as true to say that there has been no war, there are no slain, there has been no crime.
Summation for the Prosecution, July 26, 1946
Quotes from the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946)

“Like Helen, Sarah's name means "princess" in normal Hebrew, and "queen" in Akkadian. It is conceivable that (like David afterwards, whose name dāvîd means "leader, chief") her title came to be used as her name.”

Cyrus H. Gordon (1908–2001) American linguist

Footnote: Some scholars, however, now interpret his [David's] name as meaning "victory."
Ch.VIII Further Observations on the Bible
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965 [1962])
Context: Like Helen, Sarah is wonderously fair and ageless.... Like Helen, Sarah's name means "princess" in normal Hebrew, and "queen" in Akkadian. It is conceivable that (like David afterwards, whose name dāvîd means "leader, chief") her title came to be used as her name.

Eric Rücker Eddison photo

“The Queen said, "Remember: when thou shalt see the lord thy brother in his own shape, that is no illusion. Mistrust all else. And the almighty Gods preserve and comfort thee."”

Therewith the hippogriff, as if maddened with the day-beams, plunged like a wild horse, spread wide its rainbow pinions, reared, and took wing. But the Lord Juss was sprung astride of it, and the grip of his knees on the ribs of it was like brazen clamps. The firm land seemed to rush away beneath him to the rear; the lake and the shore and islands thereof showed in a moment small and remote, and the figures of the Queen and his companions like toys, then dots, then shrunken to nothingness, and the vast silence of the upper air opened and received him into utter loneliness. In that silence earth and sky swirled like the wine in a shaken goblet as the wild steed rocketed higher and higher in great spirals. A cloud billowy-white shut in the sky before them; brighter and brighter it grew in its dazzling whiteness as they sped towards it, until they touched it and the glory was dissolved in a gray mist that grew still darker and colder as they flew till suddenly they emerged from the further side of the cloud into a radiance of blue and gold blinding in its glory.
Ch. 28 : Zora Rach Nam Psarrion, p. 420 http://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/two/two34.htm
The Worm Ouroboros (1922)

Joaquin Miller photo

“Come my sovereign queen often;
My blue skies will then be bluest;
My white rose be whitest then:”

Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) American judge

"Juanita".
In Classic Shades, and Other Poems (1890)
Context: p>O, the sea of lights for streaming
When the thousand flags are furled—
When the gleaming bay lies dreaming
As it duplicates the world!You will come my dearest, truest!
Come my sovereign queen often;
My blue skies will then be bluest;
My white rose be whitest then:Then the song! Ah, then the sabre
Flashing up the walls of night!
Hate of wrong and love of neighbor
Rhymes of battle for the Right!</p

“Printer to the Queen.”

Richard Grafton (1511–1572) Printer in the Tudor era

Signature on the Proclamation of the accession of Lady Jane Grey (1553). This declaration turned out to be a poor decision, as Grafton was cast into prison when Mary I took the throne unopposed after Lady Jane's nine day rule.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo
Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo
Margaret Thatcher photo

“Failure? Do you remember what Queen Victoria once said? “Failure—the possibilities do not exist”.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

TV Interview for ITN (5 April 1982) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104913 regarding the Falkland Islands
First term as Prime Minister
Context: I am not talking about failure, I am talking about my supreme confidence in the British fleet... superlative ships, excellent equipment, the most highly trained professional group of men, the most honourable and brave members of Her Majesty's Service. Failure? Do you remember what Queen Victoria once said? “Failure—the possibilities do not exist”. That is the way we must look at it, with all our professionalism, all our flair and every single bit of native cunning, every single bit of professionalism and all our equipment and we must go out calmly, quietly, to succeed.

Devdutt Pattanaik photo
Alessandro Cagliostro photo

“Mark this, my child, that I have tried to have this place fit for a queen, with nothing lacking for your comfort. So calm your folly. Live here as you would do in your convent cell.”

Alessandro Cagliostro (1743–1795) Italian occultist

Balsamo the Magician (or The Memoirs of a Physician) by Alex. Dumas (1891)

Eric Rücker Eddison photo
Michael Foot photo
F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo

“They’re turning me into the Queen of England.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

On 22 June 2019 https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/national-politics/bolsonaro-says-congress-seeks-to-turn-him-into-the-queen-of-england/, about the Congress. Democracy Bedevils Brazil’s President Bolsonaro https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-01/democracy-bedevils-brazil-s-bolsonaro. Bloomberg (1 July 2019).

Chris Cornell photo

“I think Freddie Mercury is probably the best of all time, in terms of a rock voice. There was a vulnerability to it, his technical ability was amazing, and so much of his personality would come out through his voice. I’m not even a guy to buy Queen records, really, and I still think he’s one of the best.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

Chris Cornell Flashback Q&A: 'We Have to Be Aware That Life Is So Short', Yahoo!, May 19, 2017 https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chris-cornell-flashback-qa-aware-life-short-023857577.html,
Solo career Era

Tulsi Gabbard photo

“Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.”

Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

Twitter post published by Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tulsi-gabbard-hillary-clinton-smears-bernie-sanders-endorsement. (18 October 2019)
Twitter account, October 2019

Edmund Burke photo
John Bright photo

“He…made observations with regard to the Queen, which, in my opinion, no meeting of people in this country, and certainly no meeting of Reformers, ought to have listened to with approbation. (Cheers.) Let it be remembered that there has been no occasion on which any Ministry has proposed an improved representation of the people when the Queen has not given her cordial, unhesitating, and, I believe, hearty assent. (Cheers.) … But Mr. Ayrton referred further to a supposed absorption of the sympathies of the Queen with her late husband to the exclusion of sympathy for and with the people. (Hear, hear.) I am not accustomed to stand up in defence of those who are possessors of crowns. (Hear, hear.) But I could not sit here and hear that observation without a sensation of wonder and of pain. (Loud cheers.) I think there has been by many persons a great injustice done to the Queen in reference to her desolate and widowed position. (Cheers.) And I venture to say this, that a woman, be she the Queen of a great realm or be she the wife of one of your labouring men, who can keep alive in her heart a great sorrow for the lost object of her life and affection, is not at all likely to be wanting in a great and generous sympathy with you.”

John Bright (1811–1889) British Radical and Liberal statesman

Loud and prolonged cheers.
Speech in St James's Hall, Piccadilly, London (4 December 1866), quoted in The Times (5 December 1866), p. 7
1860s

Baruch Spinoza photo
Victor Villaseñor photo

“We were starving when we got to the Texas border! And we thought that once we got across all our troubles were over. But we were wrong! A new kind of war started for us of racism and prejudice. They treated us Mexicans worse than dogs! In Douglas, Arizona, I stole six dollars worth of copper ore from the Copper Queen Mining Company to feed my starving mother and sisters, and they put me in the penitentiary. I was only thirteen years old! They wouldn’t have done that to a gringo kid, but they did this to a Mexican kid to teach an example!”

Victor Villaseñor (1940) American writer

Tears came to his eyes. “In prison those monsters tried to rape me, but I fought back so hard that they cut my stomach open from rib to rib,” he yelled, tearing his shirt open and showing me the huge scar that ran across his whole abdomen, going from his upper right side to his lower left side. “My intestines came out, and they left me for dead, but the guards found me and took me to the hospital. After a week I awoke, and, at the end of that month, I escaped with two Yaqui who’d gotten twenty years for eating an Army mule. Their familias had been starving! And they’d stolen the mule to feed them! “YOU’VE GOT NO RAGE COMPARED TO THAT, PENDEJO! There aren’t enough bullets for me to kill all the racist no-good sons of bitches I’ve met in the United States! But—and this is a big but— anybody can go around killing people! Any damn group of kids can get together and kill! That takes no guts! What takes guts is to have that rage, here inside,” he said, pounding his chest, “and decide to do something good with that rage. My revenge against this racist two-faced country of the United States is that I got rich and became a Republican! So now you come back to the United States, and you do something worthwhile, AND YOU DO IT RIGHT NOW, PENDEJO!
Crazy Loco Love: A Memoir (2008)

Vyjayanthimala photo
Aretha Franklin photo

“What made her talent so great was her capacity to live what she sang. Her music was deepened by her connection to the struggles and the triumphs of the African American experience growing up in her father’s church, the community of Detroit, and her awareness of the turmoil of the South. She had a lifelong, unwavering commitment to civil rights and was one of the strongest supporters of the movement. She was our sister and our friend. Whenever I would see her, from time to time, she would always inquire about the well-being of people she met and worked with during the sixties.When she sang, she embodied what we were fighting for, and her music strengthened us. It revived us. When we would be released from jail after a non-violent protest, we might go to a late night club and let the music of Aretha Franklin fill our hearts. She was like a muse whose songs whispered the strength to continue on. Her music gave us a greater sense of determination to never give up or give in, and to keep the faith. She was a wonderful, talented human being. We mourn for Aretha Franklin. We have lost the Queen of Soul.”

Aretha Franklin (1942–2018) American musician, singer, songwriter, and pianist

John Lewis, "Congressman John Lewis on Aretha Franklin: ‘One of God’s precious gifts’" https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/congressman-john-lewis-aretha-franklin-one-god-precious-gifts/PRXHP5dgRpjhhuIUdjGEsO/, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (August 16, 2018)

Catherine of Aragon photo

“Did I not tell you that whenever you argue with the Queen she is sure to have the upper hand?! I see that one fine morning you will succumb to her reasoning and cast me off!”

Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) first wife of Henry VIII of England (1485–1536)

Anne Boleyn — quoted in Alison Weir (1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. ISBN 0802136834, p. 213.

Greta Garbo photo
Alexander Mackenzie photo

“Loyalty to the Queen does not require a man to bow down to her manservant, her maidservant, her ox… or her ass!”

Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) 2nd Prime Minister of Canada

responding to McDougall who claimed he was disloyal for not supporting the Government - Lambton debates 1867 - Buckingham page 229

Jane Austen photo
Francis Walsingham photo

“Above all things I wish God's glory and next the queen's safety.”

Francis Walsingham (1532–1590) English spy, diplomat and politician

Letter to the Earl of Leicester (April 1571), quoted in John Cooper, The Queen's Agent: Francis Walsingham at the Court of Elizabeth I (2011), p. 64

T.S. Eliot photo
David Sedaris photo

“Walking down 8th Avenue, I fell in behind two muscled gym queens. When a car alarm went off, one of them turned to the other, saying, "That's the Puerto Rican national anthem."”

David Sedaris (1956) American author

"Really?" the other guy said. "That's actually their anthem?"

04.09.1992 - p.291
Theft by Finding: Diaries, Volume 1 (1977-2002) (2017)

John Wesley photo

“That if the best of Kings—the most virtuous of Queens—and the most perfect Constitution, could make any nation happy, the people of this country had every reason to think themselves so.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

Speech in the West Riding of Yorkshire, reported in the Leeds Intelligencer (4 May 1790), quoted in Robert F. Wearmouth, Methodism and the Common People of the Eighteenth Century (Epworth Press, 1945), p. 257
1790s

Joanna Jędrzejczyk photo

“You can see the other female strawweights fighting, and c’mon. They cannot compare themselves to me. They are all are only jealous and talking too much all the time. I’m telling them, bow down. I’m the queen.”

Joanna Jędrzejczyk (1987) Polish mixed martial artist

Joanna Jedrzejczyk shocked at UFC 223 loss to Namajunas, tells other strawweights: 'Bow down', Edward Vkanty, May 14, 2017, August 25, 2017 https://mmajunkie.com/2018/04/joanna-jedrzejczyk-shocked-at-ufc-223-loss-tells-strawweights-bow-down-rose-namajunas,

Jędrzejczyk to other women's strawweight fighters, at UFC 223 post-fight press conference, after her second loss to Rose Namajunas.

Don Bluth photo

“I think the destiny of all men is to be kings, the destiny of all women is to be queens. In some fashion or another, that’s the destiny that we call it family but it’s supposed to be that.”

Don Bluth (1937) American animator

DRAGON’S LAIR: An interview with Don Bluth and Gary Goldman https://www.indiewire.com/2015/12/dragons-lair-an-interview-with-don-bluth-and-gary-goldman-122447/ (December 18, 2015)

Edmund Burke photo

“I tell you again that the recollection of the manner in which I saw the Queen of France in the year 1774 and the contrast between that brilliancy, Splendour, and beauty, with the prostrate Homage of a Nation to her, compared with the abominable Scene of 1789 which I was describing did draw Tears from me and wetted my Paper. These Tears came again into my Eyes almost as often as I lookd at the description. They may again. You do not believe this fact, or that these are my real feelings, but that the whole is affected, or as you express it, 'downright Foppery.'”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

My friend, I tell you it is truth—and that it is true, and will be true, when you and I are no more, and will exist as long as men—with their Natural feelings exist.
Letter to Philip Francis (20 February 1790), quoted in Alfred Cobban and Robert A. Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Edmund Burke, Volume VI: July 1789–December 1791 (1967), p. 91
1790s

Enoch Powell photo
Alfred Denning, Baron Denning photo