Catherine the Great

The greatest art is to govern without seeming to govern.

Happiness is a matter of one's most ordinary and everyday mode of seeing, acting, and thinking.

One cannot be a good ruler without being learned.

I love the left cheek twenty times more than the right.

Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate self.

A woman should keep her silence; let the man talk.

The use of the sea and air is common to all; neither can a title to the ocean belong to any people.

I am not yet so arrogant as to believe that my presence is necessary everywhere.

Nothing is more damaging to a state than a ruler who is indifferent to truth.

The liberty of the press is the palladium of all civil, political, and religious rights.

In politics, as in life, one must sometimes take the bitter with the sweet.

I have always been fond of the East; it is the cradle of civilization.

A good education is the foundation of a strong empire.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.

I would rather play cards than sit on the throne.

Justice is the cornerstone of any lasting government.

Life is too short to waste on hatred.

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.

A monarch must be a philosopher or he will be a tyrant.