It is as queen of Canada that I am here. Queen of Canada and all Canadians, not just one or two ancestral strains.

We have all felt those emotions in these last few days. So what I say to you now, as your queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.

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

It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all.

In the turbulence of this anxious and active world many people are leading uneventful, lonely lives. To them dreariness, not disaster, is the enemy. They seldom realize that on their steadfastness, on their ability to withstand the fatigue of dull repetitive work, and on their courage in meeting constant small adversities depend in great measure the happiness and prosperity of the community as a whole. ... The upward course of a nation's history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.

I believe that there is a great fear in our generation of being labeled as priggish.

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