“I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.”

“I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.”

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

“In January in Northern Russia, everything vanishes beneath a deep blanket of whiteness. Rivers, fields, trees, roads, and houses disappear, and the landscape becomes a white sea of mounds and hollows. On days when the sky is gray, it is hard to see where earth merges with air. On brilliant days when the sky is a rich blue, the sunlight is blinding, as if millions of diamonds were scattered on the snow, refracting light. In Catherine's time, the log roads of summer were covered with a smooth coating of snow and ice that enabled the sledges to glide smoothly at startling speeds; on some days, her procession covered a hundred miles.”

“The more a man knows, the more he forgives.”

“I praise loudly. I blame softly.”

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

“I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.”

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

“Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.”

“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.”

“I shall be an autocrat that's my trade and the good Lord will forgive me that's his.”