“You should know our mania for building is stronger than ever. It is a diabolical thing. It consumes money and the more you build, the more you want to build. It’s a sickness like being addicted to alcohol.
If I may venture to be frank I would say about myself that I was every inch a gentleman …
You were in a mood to quarrel. Please inform me once the inclination passes.
Very early it was noticed that I had a good memory; therefore I was insistently tormented with learning everything by heart.
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.
Your wit makes others witty.
The laws ought to be so framed as to secure the safety of every citizen as much as possible. … Political liberty does not consist in the notion that a man may do whatever he pleases; liberty is the right to do whatsoever the laws allow. … The equality of the citizens consists in that they should all be subject to the same laws.
Tell a thousand people to draft a letter, let them debate every phrase, and see how long it takes and what you get.
I am one of the people who love the why of things.
The more a man knows, the more he forgives.
It is better to inspire a reform than to enforce it.
In my position you have to read when you want to write and to talk when you would like to read.
I like to praise and reward in a loud voice and to scold in a whisper.
I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
Don’t worry about things you cannot alter.
All punishments by which the human body might be maimed are barbarbarism.
I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.
A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.
God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.
Happiness and unhappiness are in the heart and spirit of each one of us: If you feel unhappy, then place yourself above that and act so that your happiness does not get to be dependent on anything.
Experience shows that the frequent use of severe punishment has never rendered a people better. The death of a criminal is a less effective means of restraining crimes than the permanent example of a man deprived of his liberty during the whole of his life to make amends for the injury he has done to the public.
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