Queen Victoria reigned for almost 64 years
and the length of her service to the throne marked an era when Britannia ruled
the waves in an empire where the sun never sets. Initially criticized for her
lack of experience and immature behavior (remember the Bedchamber Crisis?), the
Queen eventually learned her lesson and through the years became a symbol of
wisdom—the epitome of what a Constitutional Monarch is. Here are inspiring
quotes of wisdom from the Grandmother of Europe.
On
War
“We are not interested in the possibilities
of defeat. They do not exist.”
“The Government should take a firm, bold
line. This delay - this uncertainty, by which, abroad, we are losing our
prestige and our position, while Russia is advancing and will be before
Constantinople in no time! Then the Government will be fearfully blamed and the
Queen so humiliated that she thinks she would abdicate at once.”
On
Women’s Rights
“The Queen is most anxious to enlist
everyone in checking this mad, wicked folly of 'Women's Rights'. It is a
subject which makes the Queen so furious that she cannot contain herself. “
“For a man to strike any women is most
brutal, and I, as well as everyone else, think this far worse than any attempt
to shoot, which, wicked as it is, is at least more comprehensible and more
courageous. “
“Were women to "unsex" themselves
by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen, and
disgusting of beings and would surely perish without male protection.”
On
Artists
“I would venture to warn against too great
intimacy with artists as it is very seductive and a little dangerous. “
On
Marriage
“When I think of a merry, happy, free young
girl - and look at the ailing, aching state a young wife generally is doomed to
- which you can't deny is the penalty of marriage.”
“I feel sure that no girl would go to the
altar if she knew all.”
“A marriage is no amusement but a solemn
act, and generally a sad one.”
“Being married gives one one's position
like nothing else can. Queen Victoria”
“I think people really marry far too much;
it is such a lottery after all, and for a poor woman a very doubtful happiness.
“
On
Being Queen
“The important thing is not what they think
of me, but what I think of them.”
“Since it has pleased Providence to place
me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country;
I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced,
but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do
what is fit and right than I have.”
On
Not Growing
“Everybody grows but me.”
On
Babies
“I don't dislike babies, though I think
very young ones rather disgusting.”
On
Dogs
“Nothing will turn a man's home into a
castle more quickly and effectively than a dachshund.”
On
Innovation
“We will not have failure - only success
and new learning.”
On
the British People’s Love for Beer
“Give my people plenty of beer, good beer,
and cheap beer, and you will have no revolution among them.”
On
the Queen’s Love for Peace
“Great events make me quiet and calm; it is
only trifles that irritate my nerves.”
“I love peace and quiet, I hate politics
and turmoil. We women are not made for governing, and if we are good women, we
must dislike these masculine occupations.”
On
Being Prim and Proper
“I positively think that ladies who are
always enceinte quite disgusting; it is more like a rabbit or guinea-pig than
anything else and really it is not very nice.”
On
Concealing Your Feelings
“Do not to let your feelings (very natural
and usual ones) of momentary irritation and discomfort be seen by others don't
(as you so often did and do) let every little feeling be read in your face and
seen in your manner . . .”
On
Alcohol
“Total abstinence is an impossibility and
... it will not do to insist on it as a general practice ...”
On
Her Love of Scotland
“Lord Aberdeen was quite touched when I
told him I was so attached to the dear, dear Highlands and missed the fine
hills so much. There is a great peculiarity about the Highlands and
Highlanders; and they are such a chivalrous, fine, active people.”
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