In my position you have to read when you want to write and to talk when you would like to read.
I am one of the people who love the why of things.
I like to praise and reward in a loud voice and to scold in a whisper.
What right can give anyone authority to inflict torture upon a citizen when it is still unknown whether he is innocent or guilty?
[On Peter III:] He did not have a bad heart; but a weak man usually has not.
If I may venture to be frank I would say about myself that I was every inch a gentleman.