"It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult."
—in her 1957 Christmas broadcast
"Perhaps we make too much of what is wrong and too little of what is right. The trouble with gloom is that it feeds upon itself and depression causes more depression."
—in her 1974 Christmas broadcast
"Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom."
—in her 1991 Christmas broadcast
"No age group has a monopoly of wisdom, and indeed I think the young can sometimes be wiser than us. But the older I get, the more conscious I become of the difficulties young people have to face as they learn to live in the modern world."
—in her 1998 Christmas broadcast
"Over the years, those who have seemed to me to be the most happy, contented and fulfilled have always been the people who have lived the most outgoing and unselfish lives."
—in her 2008 Christmas broadcast
"I know of no single formula for success, but over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal, and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration, to work together."
—in a 2010 address to the United Nations General Assembly
"Whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load."
—at an Ireland state banquet in 2011
"We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock."
—in her 2013 Christmas broadcast
"It's worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change."
—in her 2019 Christmas broadcast