[On the 1982 intruder into her bedroom:] I realized immediately that it wasn't a servant because they don't slam doors.

It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of humankind.

Cowards falter, but danger is often overcome by those who nobly dare.

[On being criticized for her serious expression:] I simply ache from smiling. Why are women expected to beam all the time? It's unfair. If a man looks solemn, it's automatically assumed he's a serious person, not a miserable one.

What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today.

Therefore I am sure that this, my Coronation, is not the symbol of a power and a splendour that are gone but a declaration of our hopes for the future, and for the years I may, by God's Grace and Mercy, be given to reign and serve you as your Queen.

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