Catherine the Great

I like to praise and reward in a loud voice and to scold in a whisper.

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

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.

You were in a mood to quarrel. Please inform me once the inclination passes.

Power without a nation’s confidence is nothing.

Your wit makes others witty.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough.

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.

In the 80s, when I was a little girl, this whole Midtown area was a different world. These are the streets that I walked, and learned my lessons on, and heard the music, and witnessed disenfranchised people, and people who just had dreams and hopes. Every pimp, every prostitute, every drug dealer, every Broadway dreamer wishing they could be a writer, or a musician, or an actor.

Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.

Much depends on people knowing what opportunity means; it doesn’t mean a silver platter, it oftener means a spade. Self-help means something sterner than ‘help yourself’–reach over and take it.

If you need a miracle, be a miracle.

Every success is the mother of countless others.

Beware of monotony; it’s the mother of all the deadly sins.

We are always seeking for those things which are in the clouds, not for those that lie at our feet.

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

Everybody should have the opportunity to do and be everything they can be.

Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.

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

I grew up in a very masculine environment. So I was around a lot of men, my brothers and their friends. There was just a lot of guys around.

People who are capable of and fit for freedom liberate themselves from physical thralldom by substituting mind for muscle.