Catherine the Great

I sincerely want peace, not because I lack resources for war, but because I hate bloodshed.

God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.

Power without a nation’s confidence is nothing.

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

Nothing is more difficult, in my opinion, than to avoid something that fundamentally attracts you.

All punishments by which the human body might be maimed are barbarbarism.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.

The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.

The concept of shaking hands is absolutely terrible, and statistically I’ve been proven right.

I am one of the people who love the why of things.

True life is lived when tiny changes occur.

Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thought that is forever flowing through one’s head.

There’s a lot of people out there who go through hard times, and they feel alone. They feel like nobody is there. But I’m in the same boat.

How beautiful the world was when one looked at it without searching, just looked, simply and innocently.

You say I started out with practically nothing, but that isn’t correct. We all start with all there is, it’s how we use it that makes things possible.

You cannot be who and what you are unless you have a lifestyle, both internally and externally, that is designed to support that definition of self.

If you need a miracle, be a miracle.

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

Whatever your goal in life, the beginning is knowledge and experience- or, briefly work.