Royalty

"We will not attempt any alliances with kings. We will not delude ourselves that we can remain free by relying on international treaties and diplomatic tricks. We will not beg for our wellbeing via the protocols of conferences or the promise of monarchic cabinet ministers...Therefore, listen Italian People: we will deal only with other peoples, never with kings."

"Les rois nous saoulaient de fumées Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans"

"When you have seen your kings shit over the rail and turn green in a storm, it was hard to bend the knee and pretend they were gods."

"The state of Monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called gods."

"It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle."

"It was a big thing to be a king. It meant that you were getting the feeling that you lived in a big room all by yourself where no one could see you and you were your own man. Free and alone."

"A king asked a holy man, “Do you remember about me?” The holy man answered, “Yes, I think about you when I forget about God.”"

"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."

"Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as much is to be done for them as their condition will allow. What are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world. You will find that all the arguments in favor of kingcraft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you will—whether it comes from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent."

"God bless the King—I mean the faith's defender; God bless (no harm in blessing) the pretender; But who the pretender is, or who is King— God bless us all—that's quite another thing."

"Kings lack the caution of common men."

"I support all militant groups that believe in Allah. Hamas, al-Qaeda and ISIS."

"It is not fair to accuse the Arabic language of being old-fashioned and static as if it were independent from what we mean and do, or unaffected by the outcome of our deeds. It is our language, and we are ultimately responsible for its static condition. It is our duty to restore it to its glory so that it can return to what it used to be hundreds of years ago – the language of science and literature, a language of building bridges to other civilizations, a language that affected others through its scientific and cultural achievements, pushing them to learn it."

"My dream is to see a Middle East region where everyone has access to the unique and rich tradition of learning that has such a strong place in our Arabic and Islamic heritage."

"To give every child the chance to be educated is a gift of promise. A gift of wonderment. A gift that opens up possibilities that can transform lives and develop thinkers, leaders, and creators of great art."

"With her chiselled cheekbones, her glamorous floor-length gowns, and her unconventionally public role in the deeply conservative Gulf, 53-year-old Sheikha Moza has secured her legacy as the matriarch of modern Qatar."

"To hear her voice, to see the tenderness in her eyes, is to know but a hint of her radiant beauty, enormous generosity, and the greatness of her soul. Behind her regality lay an extremely sensitive woman and a deeply loving mother whose sense of art and beauty engaged her in a permanent quest for perfection."

"Grace was very sweet. Without makeup, you wouldn't know it was Grace Kelly. She wore glasses, and she was very unassuming, very much a lady, very quiet."

"You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I’ll miss her, we’ll all miss her, God bless you, Princess Grace."

"My life and the lives of so many have never been the same since this wonderful woman entered my world. I adore her more today than ever before. She is my Princess, and I salute her."

"Writing about her is like trying to wrap up 115 pounds of smoke."

"The first time I met Grace Kelly and saw what a beautiful girl she was and how photogenic – that was an important point. She came to make the film To Catch a Thief with Hitchcock. I saw straightaway that she was very photogenic and a beautifully kind lady. That’s what made all the men fascinated by her. She had this very feminine attitude."

"Grace Kelly has always been my absolute idol. When she’s on camera I just can’t tear my eyes away; same with Marilyn Monroe. You can’t take your eyes off them. They have so much poise and they’re so composed and graceful and elegant and chic. But then they can do this physical comedy and in a split second, they can have you in hysterics."

"I could have married her!"

"Off-camera, she reminded me of a small-town high school teacher. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her face was scrubbed clean except for a little dash of lipstick, and she wore glasses. She seemed very likable to me - and very shy. But as we became friends, I saw that along with her determination to succeed as an actress, she had a certain inner calm. She accepted the world as it really was, not as she wanted it to be. I remember thinking that this was something unique in someone so young."

"In her teen years, she was nothing but a giggly somebody with a high nasal voice. She always has had trouble with her nose, and in her childhood winters she had been the victim of one long sustained cold in the head. That gave her the peculiar voice. Her enjoyment of food gave her a little extra weight. And, like her father, an athlete and entrepreneur, she was nearsighted, which made it necessary for her to wear glasses. All in all, she was nobody’s Princess Charming in those days."

"I love walking in the woods, on the trails, along the beaches. I love being part of nature. I love walking alone. It is therapy. One needs to be alone, to recharge one's batteries."

"I was terribly shy when I was young, I was so bland, they kept having to introduce me again and again before people noticed me."

"I was very lucky in my career and I loved it. But I don’t think I was accomplished enough as an actor to be remembered particularly. No, I’d like to be remembered as a decent human being, and a caring one."

"(when children can watch without embarrassment their mothers breast feed brothers and sister) They realize the wholesomeness of sex and its naturalness. They don't put sex in the wrong proportion."

"The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it."

"Women's natural role is to be a pillar of the family."

"A brunette Grace Kelly with Grable's legs."

"The frantic life of today has swept up women to the point where... they feel that there is no time for this vital natural function.(breastfeeding) I have many duties and obligations of state along with my husband, but my family comes first."

"Personally, I wouldn't go anywhere important without my own favorite Hermès black bag... I have my jewelry with me in case something happens and I suddenly have to dress up. For me, going out without that purse would seem almost like going out naked. Well, almost."

"I certainly don't think of my life as a fairy tale."

"For a woman, forty is torture, the end. I think turning forty is miserable."

"To create harmony in the home is the woman's right and duty."

"Grace Kelly's apparent frigidity was like a mountain covered with snow, but that mountain was a volcano."

"I didn't discover Grace, but I saved her from a fate worse than death. I prevented her from being eternally cast as a cold woman."

"Austere and devout, a direct descendant of Ibn Abdelwahhab through his mother, King Faisal spent time in his maternal grandfather’s house participating in theological debates, and he “embraced the fundamentals of religion and norms of the shari’a according to the formulations of Ibn Abdel Wahhab.” His own father, King Abdelaziz, referred to Faisal as “the boy from the Al-ash-Sheikh family.” Above moral reproach, King Faisal could afford to push for those aspects of modernization he felt would benefit his country. The events of 1979 had frozen that courage in his successors, and the kings now kowtowed to religious forces. Juhayman had died, but his mission lived on. The impact was immediate and deeply felt in the provinces outside Najd, which Bin Baz had been trying so hard to discipline in the proper Wahhabi ways."

"The injustice and aggression inflicted on the Palestinian Arab people is unparalleled in history, even in the dark ages. An entire people has been displaced from their land and homeland to replace another people. The Arab States have appealed to the world's conscience for nearly a quarter of a century to realize the right and lift the injustice against them, but our pleas have not been heeded, forcing them to take up arms in defense of their rights, lands and sanctities."

"Despite the religious strictures the House of Saud had imposed on the country since the kingdom was founded, many of their subjects still felt that every year brought more modernity, more freedoms, however small. The push and pull between the royals and the clerics had been a constant in the relationship, determined by the personality of each king and his standing with the clerics. The king who had succeeded most in plying the religious establishment to his will was King Faisal, who ruled from 1964 until he was assassinated in 1975. He introduced television and education for girls despite the clerics’ protestations, and he sent emissaries well versed in matters of religion to reason with them. These were often members of the Muslim Brotherhood from Syria or Egypt who had fled repression in their countries and been embraced in the kingdom for their skills at building a modern state—they were often engineers but also educators, and they fanned across schools and universities in the kingdom."

"Any drop of oil that goes to Israel will make me cut off the oil for you."

"King Faisal: We lived, and our ancestors lived on dates and milk, and we will return to them."

"Henry Kissinger: My plane ran out of oil so will your majesty order it to get supplied with oil and we are ready to pay at international rates? King Faisal: And I'm an old man who wishes to pray in Al-Aqsa before I die so will you help me in my wish?"

"God gave man two ears and one tongue so we could listen twice as much as we talk."

"Our youth education is based on three pillars: belief, science and work."

"We want this Kingdom to be a beacon of light for humanity, now and fifty years from now."

"Be honey to those who seek your friendship, but deadly poison to those who dare attack you."