Catherine the Great Quotes & Sayings

“Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.”

“I praise loudly. I blame softly.”

“You philosophers are lucky men. You write on paper and paper is patient. Unfortunate Empress that I am, I write on the susceptible skins of living beings.”

“For to tempt and to be tempted are things very nearly allied - whenever feeling has anything to do in the matter, no sooner is it excited than we have already gone vastly farther than we are aware of.”

“A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.”

“I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.”

“In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions.”

“The more a man knows, the more he forgives.”

“I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.”

“If Russians knew how to read, they would write me off.”