I do not love strife, because I have always found that in the end each remains of the same opinion.
Catherine the GreatI shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.
Catherine the GreatIn my position you have to read when you want to write and to talk when you would like to read.
Catherine the GreatAny man who doesn't partake in cigar smoking is nothing more than a weak-willed, meandering oaf, and I would never put my lips to those of any creature, man or beast, whose lips were not fresh awash in the currents of cigar smoke.'
Catherine the Great