Catherine the Great

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

“First health, then wealth, then pleasure, and do not owe anything to anybody.”

“Power without [the people's] confidence is nothing.”

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

“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...”

“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.”

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

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

“I may be kindly, I am ordinarily gentle, but in my line of business I am obliged to will terribly what I will at all.”

“I praise loudly. I blame softly.”

“I like to praise and reward loudly, to blame quietly.”

“All this is only for the mice and myself to admire!”

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

“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.”

“Your wit makes others witty.”