Catherine the Great

I have no way to defend my borders but to extend them.

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

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.

Tell a thousand people to draft a letter, let them debate every phrase, and see how long it takes and what you get.

I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.

Imperfections make you beautiful, they make you who you are.

I had plastic surgery because I was trying to look good for y’all.

I’ve never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines. I represent the majority of women, and I’m very proud of that.

Huge ego is very often matched by huge insecurity.

When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different.

There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.

The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within- strength, courage, dignity.

What makes you different or weird. That’s your strength.

Loving yourself…does not mean being self-absorbed or narcissistic, or disregarding others. Rather it means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, a guest worthy of respect, a lovable companion.

I’ve always thought that each person invented himself for whatever reasons, for whatever circumstances, through whatever he has gone through, that we are each a figment of our own imagination. And some people have a greater ability to imagine than others.

For a long time I hated my body, because I was constantly suffering. But now I look at it like an old Mercedes with chrome bumpers. It costs a fortune to repair, it breaks down all the time, you can only use it once a week, the seat leather is starting to crack – but nonetheless it’s mine.

The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body-only then should you try to change things about yourself.

You can’t eat beauty, it doesn’t sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion, for yourself and those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.

I’m intelligent. Some people would say I’m very, very, very intelligent.

I didn’t talk to anyone about [postpartum depression]. I was very reluctant.. Four of my friends felt the same way I did, and everyone was too embarrassed to talk about it.