Catherine the Great Quotes
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If I may venture to be frank I would say about myself that I was every inch a gentleman ...
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You were in a mood to quarrel. Please inform me once the inclination passes.
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One does not always do the best there is. One does the best one can.
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God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.
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One cannot always know what children are thinking. Children are hard to understand, especially when careful training has accustomed them to obedience, and experience has made them cautious in their conversation with their teachers. Will you not draw from this the fine maxim that one should not scold children too much, but should make them trustful, so that they will not conceal their stupidities from us?
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I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.
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A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.
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I cannot live one day without love.
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I am one of the people who love the why of things.
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If Russians knew how to read they would write me off.
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It is better to inspire a reform than to enforce it.
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What right can give anyone authority to inflict torture upon a citizen when it is still unknown whether he is innocent or guilty?
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[On Peter III:] He did not have a bad heart; but a weak man usually has not.
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Self-interest usually brings injustice with it.
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I will live to make myself not feared.
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Happiness and unhappiness are in the heart and spirit of each one of us: If you feel unhappy, then place yourself above that and act so that your happiness does not get to be dependent on anything.
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Tell a thousand people to draft a letter, let them debate every phrase, and see how long it takes and what you get.
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The title of Queen rang sweet to my ears, child though I was. ... This idea of a crown began running in my head then like a tune, and has been running a lot in it ever since.
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Your wit makes others witty.
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In my position you have to read when you want to write and to talk when you would like to read.
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The laws ought to be so framed as to secure the safety of every citizen as much as possible. ... Political liberty does not consist in the notion that a man may do whatever he pleases; liberty is the right to do whatsoever the laws allow. ... The equality of the citizens consists in that they should all be subject to the same laws.
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Very early it was noticed that I had a good memory; therefore I was insistently tormented with learning everything by heart.
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Assuredly men of merit are never lacking at any time, for those are the men who manage affairs, and it is affairs that produce the men. I have never searched, and I have always found under my hand the men who have served me, and for the most part I have been well served.
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The trouble is that my heart is loath to be without love even for a single hour. ... If you want to keep me forever, then show as much friendship as love, and more than anything else, love me and tell me the truth.