Marie Antoinette was the last Queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. She became Dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she assumed the title Queen of France and Navarre, which she held until September 1791, when she became Queen of the French as the French Revolution proceeded, a title that she held until 21 September 1792. May her quotes inspire you to take action so that you may live your dreams.
1. “If the people have no bread, let them eat cake.” Marie Antoinette
2. “I am terrified of being bored.” Marie Antoinette
3. “It is the nature of human beings, and especially of the mediocre ones, to wish to change everything. They desire it all the more because they know popularity will accrue rather to those who disturb than to those who maintain order.” Marie Antoinette
4. “Dreams weigh nothing.” Marie Antoinette
5. “There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” Marie Antoinette
6. “Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?” Marie Antoinette
7. “I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.” Marie Antoinette
8. “Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.” Marie Antoinette
9. “And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies.” Marie Antoinette
10. “I have seen all, I have heard all, I have forgotten all.” Marie Antoinette
11. “I wasn’t raised, I was built.” Marie Antoinette
12. “One’s enjoyment is doubled when one can share it with a friend – and where can one find a more affectionate, a more intimate friend than in one’s own family?” Marie Antoinette
13. “I had friends. The idea of being forever separated from them and from all their troubles is one of the greatest sorrows that I suffer in dying. Let them at least know that to my latest moment I thought of them.” Marie Antoinette
14. “The interest of my son is the only guide I have, and whatever happiness I could achieve by being free of this place I cannot consent to separate myself from him. I could not have any pleasure in the world if I abandoned my children. I do not even have any regrets.” Marie Antoinette
15. “Tribulation first makes one realize what one is.” Marie Antoinette
16. “No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother.” Marie Antoinette
17. “No, do not love me, it is better to give me death!” Marie Antoinette
18. ” I trust we shall never be reduced to the painful extremity of seeking the aid of Mirabeau.” Marie Antoinette
19. “Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father.” Marie Antoinette
20. “My tastes are not those of the king, who has none, except for hunting and mechanic’s labor.” Marie Antoinette
21. “I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death, which can only apply to felons, but rather to finding your brother again. I seek forgiveness for all whom I know for every harm I may have unwittingly caused them – Adieu, good, gentle sister. I embrace you with all my heart as well as the poor, dear children.” Marie Antoinette
22. “And if they hate then let them hate and watch the money pile up.” Marie Antoinette
23. “We made our entrance into Paris. As for honors, we received all that we could possibly imagine; but they, though very well in their way, were not what touched me most. What was really affecting was the tenderness and earnestness of the poor people, who, in spite of the taxes with which they are overwhelmed, were transported with joy at seeing us.” Marie Antoinette
24. “I feel more and more, every day of my life, how much my dear mamma has done for my establishment. I was the youngest of all her daughters, and she has treated me as if I were the eldest, so that my whole soul is filled with the most tender gratitude.” Marie Antoinette
25. “It is true I am rather taken up with dress; but as to feathers, everyone wears them, and it would seem extraordinary if I did not.” Marie Antoinette
26. “My dear mamma is quite right when she says that we must lay down principles and not depart from them. The king will not have the same weaknesses as his grandfather. I hope that he will have no favorites; but I am afraid that he is too mild and too easy. You may depend upon it that I will not draw the king into any great expenses.” Marie Antoinette
27. “You can be assured that I need no one’s guidance in anything concerning propriety.” Marie Antoinette
28. “When everyone else is losing their heads, it is important to keep yours.” Marie Antoinette
29. “It would be doing me great injustice to think that I have any feeling of indifference to my country; I have more reason than anyone to feel, every day of my life, the value of the blood which flows in my veins, and it is only from prudence that at times I abstain from showing how proud I am of it.” Marie Antoinette
30. “How sad a thing it is to live apart from one’s family.” Marie Antoinette
31. “It is an amazing feature in the French character that they will let themselves be led away so easily by bad counsels and yet return again so quickly. It is certain that as these people have, out of their misery, treated us so well, we are the more bound to work for their happiness.” Marie Antoinette
32. “I have begun the ‘History of England’ by Mr. Hume. It seems to me very interesting, though it is necessary to recollect that it is a Protestant who has written it.” Marie Antoinette
33. “You have doubtless heard, my dear mother, the misfortune of Madame de Chartres, whose child is born dead. But I would rather have even that, terrible as it is, than be as I am without hope of any children.” Marie Antoinette
34. “My mother sees things but from the distance; she does not weigh them in regard to my position, and she judges me too harshly. But she is my mother, who loves me dearly; and when she speaks I can only bow my head.” Marie Antoinette
35. “We had a beautiful dream and that was all.” Marie Antoinette
