Elizabeth Quotes
A film of the early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
Elizabeth: Aye, but marry who, Your Grace? Would you give me some suggestion? For some say France and others Spain, and some cannot abide foreigners at all. So I am not sure how best to please you unless I married one of each.
[laughter]
Noble: Now Your Majesty does make fun of the sanctity of marriage.
Elizabeth: I do not think *you* should lecture me on that, my lord, since you yourself have been *twice divorced*... and are now upon your third wife!
[laughter]
[laughter]
Noble: Now Your Majesty does make fun of the sanctity of marriage.
Elizabeth: I do not think *you* should lecture me on that, my lord, since you yourself have been *twice divorced*... and are now upon your third wife!
[laughter]
Queen Mary: Why will you not confess your crimes against me?
Elizabeth: Because, Your Majesty, I have committed none.
Queen Mary: You speak with such sincerity. I see you are still a consummate actress. My husband is gone. They have poisoned my child. They say it is a tumor.
[Moans in pain]
Elizabeth: Madam, you are not well.
Queen Mary: They say this cancer will make you queen, but they are wrong. Look there, it is your death warrant. All I need do is sign it.
Elizabeth: Mary, if you sign that paper you will be murdering your own sister.
Elizabeth: Because, Your Majesty, I have committed none.
Queen Mary: You speak with such sincerity. I see you are still a consummate actress. My husband is gone. They have poisoned my child. They say it is a tumor.
[Moans in pain]
Elizabeth: Madam, you are not well.
Queen Mary: They say this cancer will make you queen, but they are wrong. Look there, it is your death warrant. All I need do is sign it.
Elizabeth: Mary, if you sign that paper you will be murdering your own sister.
[Elizabeth presents her ideas of religious reform to Parliament; the bishops are outraged and begin to argue]
First Bishop: Madam, by this act... by this act, you force us to relinquish our allegiance to the Holy Father.
Elizabeth: How can I force you, Your Grace? I am a woman.
[Bishops laugh]
Elizabeth: I have no desire to make windows into men's souls. I simply ask, can any man, in truth, serve two masters, and be faithful to both?
[Bishops start to argue again]
Bishop #2: Madam, this-this is heresy!
Elizabeth: No, Your Grace, this is... common sense.
[Bishops murmur in semi-agreement]
Elizabeth: Which is a most English virtue.
[Bishops laugh]
First Bishop: Madam, by this act... by this act, you force us to relinquish our allegiance to the Holy Father.
Elizabeth: How can I force you, Your Grace? I am a woman.
[Bishops laugh]
Elizabeth: I have no desire to make windows into men's souls. I simply ask, can any man, in truth, serve two masters, and be faithful to both?
[Bishops start to argue again]
Bishop #2: Madam, this-this is heresy!
Elizabeth: No, Your Grace, this is... common sense.
[Bishops murmur in semi-agreement]
Elizabeth: Which is a most English virtue.
[Bishops laugh]
Lord Robert: When you are Queen...
Elizabeth: I am not...
[whispering]
Elizabeth: I am not Queen yet!
Lord Robert: You will be. Elizabeth, Queen of England. A court to worship you, a country to obey you, poems written celebrating your beauty, music composed in your honor, and they will mean nothing to you. I will mean nothing to you.
Elizabeth: [laughs gaily] How could you ever be nothing to me? Robert, you know you are everything to me.
Elizabeth: I am not...
[whispering]
Elizabeth: I am not Queen yet!
Lord Robert: You will be. Elizabeth, Queen of England. A court to worship you, a country to obey you, poems written celebrating your beauty, music composed in your honor, and they will mean nothing to you. I will mean nothing to you.
Elizabeth: [laughs gaily] How could you ever be nothing to me? Robert, you know you are everything to me.
[regarding Elizabeth's impending reign]
Unseen Gentleman: Your Grace, Protestants are already returning from abroad.
Norfolk: Yes. And have made plans to massacre every Catholic in England. There would be butchery indeed if such a plan were even conceivable.
Norfolk's Man: They say Walsingham will return from France.
Norfolk: Walsingham is nothing!
[aside to Norfolk's Man as he is leaving the room]
Norfolk: Be sure he does not.
Unseen Gentleman: Your Grace, Protestants are already returning from abroad.
Norfolk: Yes. And have made plans to massacre every Catholic in England. There would be butchery indeed if such a plan were even conceivable.
Norfolk's Man: They say Walsingham will return from France.
Norfolk: Walsingham is nothing!
[aside to Norfolk's Man as he is leaving the room]
Norfolk: Be sure he does not.
Duc d'Anjou: [as he stands before Elizabeth and entourage in a dress, speaking in a heavy French accent] What? Huh? What? Wha-do, what? You stare, Madame.
[snorts]
Duc d'Anjou: What is it, do you see... somesthings... strange perhaps? Heh-heh... Hmm?
Elizabeth: You are wearing a dress, Your Grace.
Duc d'Anjou: Oh, yes, I am wearing a dress! Yes, yes, I'm wearing a dress! Wha- I wear a dress like this, my mother, and you... Hm-hm. But I only dress like this-a, when I'm alone, in private, with my friends... Hmm?
Elizabeth: Your Grace.
[approaches and offers her hand for him to kiss, which he reluctantly does]
Elizabeth: Although my affection for you is undiminished, I have, after an agonizing struggle, determined to sacrifice my own happiness for the welfare of my people.
Duc d'Anjou: [sarcastically, fully expecting her rejection] Oh! My God, ha-ha...
[snorts]
Duc d'Anjou: What is it, do you see... somesthings... strange perhaps? Heh-heh... Hmm?
Elizabeth: You are wearing a dress, Your Grace.
Duc d'Anjou: Oh, yes, I am wearing a dress! Yes, yes, I'm wearing a dress! Wha- I wear a dress like this, my mother, and you... Hm-hm. But I only dress like this-a, when I'm alone, in private, with my friends... Hmm?
Elizabeth: Your Grace.
[approaches and offers her hand for him to kiss, which he reluctantly does]
Elizabeth: Although my affection for you is undiminished, I have, after an agonizing struggle, determined to sacrifice my own happiness for the welfare of my people.
Duc d'Anjou: [sarcastically, fully expecting her rejection] Oh! My God, ha-ha...
Lord Robert: Monsignor Alvaro! Monsignor Alvaro! Monsignor Alvaro, tell me. As well as ambassador, are you not also a bishop?
De la Quadra: I am, my lord.
Lord Robert: [referring to himself and Elizabeth] Then you can marry us!
De la Quadra: Marry *you*?
Elizabeth: [laughing] Perhaps he does not know enough English to perform the ceremony!
De la Quadra: I am, my lord.
Lord Robert: [referring to himself and Elizabeth] Then you can marry us!
De la Quadra: Marry *you*?
Elizabeth: [laughing] Perhaps he does not know enough English to perform the ceremony!
Bishop Gardiner: [Walsingham comes down the stairs into the holding area where the Catholic bishops are being held] Walsingham! I would know by what authority you have kept us locked up here!
Sir Francis Walsingham: Your Graces must forgive me, but you are now free to go.
Bishop Gardiner: I am sure this infernal work has not saved your bastard queen.
Sir Francis Walsingham: Her Majesty has won the argument.
Bishop Gardiner: By what count?
Sir Francis Walsingham: By five, Your Grace.
[Looks up at the six bishops standing behind Gardiner]
Sir Francis Walsingham: Five.
[turns to leave]
Bishop Gardiner: You will be damned for this! And I pray God your wretched soul will burn in hell!
Sir Francis Walsingham: Your Graces must forgive me, but you are now free to go.
Bishop Gardiner: I am sure this infernal work has not saved your bastard queen.
Sir Francis Walsingham: Her Majesty has won the argument.
Bishop Gardiner: By what count?
Sir Francis Walsingham: By five, Your Grace.
[Looks up at the six bishops standing behind Gardiner]
Sir Francis Walsingham: Five.
[turns to leave]
Bishop Gardiner: You will be damned for this! And I pray God your wretched soul will burn in hell!
Sir Francis Walsingham: Madam, if I may. A prince should never flinch from being blamed for acts of ruthlessness which are necessary for safeguarding the state and their own person. You must take these things so much to heart that you do not fear to strike. Even the very nearest that you have if they be implicated.
[speaking to a priest he is having tortured]
Sir Francis Walsingham: Tell me, what is God to you? Has he abandoned you? Is he such a worldly god that he must play at politics in the filth of conspiracy? Is he not divine? Tell me the truth, as if you were face to face with him now. I'm a patient man, Father.
Sir Francis Walsingham: Tell me, what is God to you? Has he abandoned you? Is he such a worldly god that he must play at politics in the filth of conspiracy? Is he not divine? Tell me the truth, as if you were face to face with him now. I'm a patient man, Father.
[to a wounded boy, handing him a handkerchief stained with his blood]
Mary of Guise: Go back to England, and take this to your Queen. Hm?
Mary of Guise: [in French, to herself] English blood on French colors.
[turns to her officer]
Mary of Guise: Send him back to his Queen, and make sure he remains alive. Tell that bastard Queen not to send children to fight Mary of Guise!
Mary of Guise: Go back to England, and take this to your Queen. Hm?
Mary of Guise: [in French, to herself] English blood on French colors.
[turns to her officer]
Mary of Guise: Send him back to his Queen, and make sure he remains alive. Tell that bastard Queen not to send children to fight Mary of Guise!
Sir Francis Walsingham: Your Grace is arrested. You must go with these men to the Tower.
Norfolk: I must do nothing by your orders. I am Norfolk!
Sir Francis Walsingham: You were Norfolk.
Sir Francis Walsingham: [shows him his own signature on the treasonous letter from Rome]
Sir Francis Walsingham: The dead have no titles.
Norfolk: I must do nothing by your orders. I am Norfolk!
Sir Francis Walsingham: You were Norfolk.
Sir Francis Walsingham: [shows him his own signature on the treasonous letter from Rome]
Sir Francis Walsingham: The dead have no titles.
Elizabeth: Invite the Duke of Anjou. We shall see him in flesh.
[She runs after Lord Robert, who is not happy with the news]
Monsieur de Foix: The Duke will not take kindly to a rival for his suit.
Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: He is a traitor and his father before him. Lord Robert's head will end up on a spike, not on the pillow of a Queen.
[She runs after Lord Robert, who is not happy with the news]
Monsieur de Foix: The Duke will not take kindly to a rival for his suit.
Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: He is a traitor and his father before him. Lord Robert's head will end up on a spike, not on the pillow of a Queen.
