A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.
Catherine the Great

All this is only for the mice and myself to admire!
Catherine the Great

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 aware of.
Catherine the Great

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.
Catherine the Great

I praise loudly. I blame softly.
Catherine the Great

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

If Russians knew how to read, they would write me off.
Catherine the Great

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.
Catherine the Great