Catherine the Great

God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.

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

The more a man knows, the more he forgives.

Very early it was noticed that I had a good memory; therefore I was insistently tormented with learning everything by heart.

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.

In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions.

Effective negotiators have a style that those whom they are trying to influence, relate to and admire.

Maybe in the 90s or possibly in the next century people will look upon the 80s as the age of masturbation, when it was taken to the limit; that might be all that’s going on right now in a big way.

The quickest way from A to B is not always at the most feverish pace.

Things that seemed simple and superfluous had some meaning, maybe it wasn’t a great meaning, it didn’t shake the world…

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find how far one can go.

And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked.

It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.

When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.

Most choices are driven by immediate results.

You’re only lonely if you’re not there for you.

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

It is true that I am often startled and even angered and repulsed by the strange directions and provocative content of new forms that seem to pop up every few months.

That dog don’t hunt.

I don’t like when there’s too much conversation because I’m shy and it makes me uncomfortable.

Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.