Catherine the Great Quotes

I would rather hew wood than be a king under the conditions of the King of England.

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others.

There is no king where there is no law.

'Twixt kings and tyrants there's this difference known: Kings seek their subjects' good, tyrants their own.

If men's minds were as easily controlled as their tongues, every king would sit safely on his throne

It is not good to have a rule of many.

A king is a thing men have made for their own sakes, for quietness sake. Just as in a family one man is appointed to buy the meat.

And I particularly like the whole thing of being boss. Boss and employee... It's the slave quality that I find very alluring.

Our founders did not oust George III in order for us to crown Richard I.

I would not like a king who could obey.

The people who own the country ought to govern it.

I do not blame those who wish to rule the Athenians, but those who are over-ready to serve.

I hold to be of itself a lesson for all those who love liberty, and who would extend its blessings to their country. Men are not to be pedants in liberty, any more than in virtue. Though they are not to be oppressed by tyrants, they must at least be governed by their fellow-men. The great principles of independence in the heart of man are to be cherished and upheld; but order, prosperity, the purposes of society, must be accomplished. The many must delegate the government of themselves to the few. Control, executive power, must be lodged somewhere …

If you see yourself as a kingly type, then you need your serfs and your army and so on around you.

All are born to observe order, but few are born to establish it.

The only safe ruler is he who has learned to obey willingly.

Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything.

It is not a sign of arrogance for the king to rule. That is what he is there for.

There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master.

When there is state there can be no freedom, but when there is freedom there will be no state.

I lack the strength needed to sustain the scepter. I abhorred it, but in the end I agreed to accept it in order to prevent evils to the country which was about to succumb anew, if not to the former slavery, at least to the horrors of anarchy.

There never was that government called a republic, which was not ultimately ruled by a single will, and, therefore, (however bold may seem the paradox,) virtually and substantially a monarchy.

We do not support rebellion against our rulers even if they are unjust. We do not make supplications against them and do not set any revolution against them.

The deputies of the people should not and cannot be the people's representatives, they can only be its servants.... The moment that people give power to their representatives, they abdicate their liberty.

A people may let a king fall and still remain a people, but if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king.