w odpowiedzi na ultimatum wysłane przez króla szwedzkiego Gustawa III, 1788.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II
Katarzyna II:
49
Cytatów
1
Polubienie
Katarzyna II słynne cytaty
Źródło: Dekret o chłopach pańszczyźnianych, 1767, cyt. za: Shelley Klein, Największe zbrodniarki w historii, op. cit., s. 98.
o Ludwiku XVI.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II, Ossolineum 1983.
„Chcę umrzeć, śmiejąc się i kochając.”
Źródło: José María López Ruiz, Tyrani i zbrodniarze. Najwięksi nikczemnicy w dziejach świata, tłum. Agata Ciastek, Dom Wydawniczy Bellona, Warszawa 2006, s. 196.
Źródło: José María López Ruiz, Tyrani i zbrodniarze. Najwięksi nikczemnicy w dziejach świata, op. cit., s. 192.
w liście z maja 1791 do Melchiora Grimma.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II, Ossolineum 1983.
Katarzyna II cytaty
w liście z kwietnia 1794 do Aleksandra Suworowa.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II, Ossolineum 1983.
w liście z 1780 do Melchiora Grimma o królu pruskim Fryderyku Wilhelmie.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II
Źródło: Documents of Catherine the Great, tłum. ang.W.F. Reddaway, Cambridge University Press, 1931, cyt. za: Shelley Klein, Największe zbrodniarki w historii, tłum. Barbara Gutowska-Nowak, wyd. Muza, Warszawa 2006, ISBN 8373198547, s. 77–78.
w liście z 1774 do Woltera o powstaniu Pugaczowa.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II
o Szczęsnym Potockim i Sewerynie Rzewuskim – członkach konfederacji targowickiej w 1791.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II, Ossolineum 1983.
w liście do Seweryna Rzewuskiego uzasadniając II rozbiór Polski.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II
„Boże, ześlij nam żądze, i to możliwie szybko.”
ulubiony toast Katarzyny II
Źródło: Adam Ian, Seks i sława. Od Kleopatry do Polańskiego, Time after Time. International, USA Los Angeles-Łódź 1991, ISBN 8390036002, s. 21.
Źródło: Adam Ian, Seks i sława. Od Kleopatry do Polańskiego, op. cit., s. 21.
ukaz z 3 sierpnia 1775.
Źródło: Władysław A. Serczyk, Katarzyna II, Ossolineum 1983.
„Brawo, feldmarszałku, Katarzyna.”
w odpowiedzi na raport gen. Aleksandra Suworowa o zajęciu Warszawy w 1795 („Praga zdobyta, Suworow”). W ten nietypowy sposób caryca dawała Suworowowi awans.
Źródło: Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz, Stanisław August, Universitas, Kraków 2012, s. 138.
Źródło: list do Woltera, 3 sierpnia 1771, za: Małgorzata Karpińska, Samotnik i Gwiazda Północy – Czyli filozof na służbie, „Europa” 1991 nr 1, s. 28–29.
Katarzyna II: Cytaty po angielsku
“A great wind is blowing and that either gives you imagination… or a headache.”
As quoted in Daughters of Eve (1930) by Gamaliel Bradford, p. 192
Wariant: A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.
“It is better to be subject to the Laws under one Master, than to be subservient to many.”
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
“The Laws ought to be so framed, as to secure the Safety of every Citizen as much as possible.”
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768), Item 33
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Kontekst: The Equality of the Citizens consists in this; that they should all be subject to the same Laws.
This Equality requires Institutions so well adapted, as to prevent the Rich from oppressing those who are not so wealthy as themselves, and converting all the Charges and Employments intrusted to them as Magistrates only, to their own private Emolument.... <!-- Items 34 - 35
Letter to Denis Diderot, as quoted in The Affairs of Women : A Modern Miscellany (2006) by Colin Bingham
Memoirs
Kontekst: The Grand Duke appeared to rejoice at the arrival of my mother and myself. I was in my fifteenth year. During the first ten days he paid me much attention. Even then and in that short time, I saw and understood that he did not care much for the nation that he was destined to rule, and that he clung to Lutheranism, did not like his entourage, and was very childish. I remained silent and listened, and this gained me his trust. I remember him telling me that among other things, what pleased him most about me was that I was his second cousin, and that because I was related to him, he could speak to me with an open heart. Then he told me that he was in love with one of the Empress’s maids of honor, who had been dismissed from court because of the misfortune of her mother, one Madame Lopukhina, who had been exiled to Siberia, that he would have liked to marry her, but that he was resigned to marry me because his aunt desired it. I listened with a blush to these family confidences, thanking him for his ready trust, but deep in my heart I was astonished by his imprudence and lack of judgment in many matters.
“To tempt, and to be tempted, are things very nearly allied”
Memoirs
Kontekst: To tempt, and to be tempted, are things very nearly allied, and, in spite of the finest maxims of morality impressed upon the mind, whenever feeling has anything to do in the matter, no sooner is it excited than we have already gone vastly farther than we are aware of, and I have yet to learn how it is possible to prevent its being excited.
Flight alone is, perhaps, the only remedy; but there are cases and circumstances in which flight becomes impossible, for how is it possible to fly, shun, or turn one's back in the midst of a court? The very attempt would give rise to remarks. Now, if you do not fly, there is nothing, it seems to me, so difficult as to escape from that which is essentially agreeable. All that can be said in opposition to it will appear but a prudery quite out of harmony with the natural instincts of the human heart; besides, no one holds his heart in his hand, tightening or relaxing his grasp of it at pleasure. <!-- Appleton &Co., 1850 p. 280
Decree on Serfs (1767) as quoted in A Source Book for Russian History Vol. 2 (1972) by George Vernadsky
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
“I will live to make myself not feared.”
As quoted in The Historians' History of the World (1904) by Henry Smith Williams, p. 423
Item 37
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
As quoted in Woman Through the Ages;; (1908) by Emil Reich, p. 155
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Item 180
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
Item 38
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
“Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.”
As quoted in And I Quote : The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker (1992) by Ashton Applewhite, Tripp Evans, and Andrew Frothingham, p. 278
“Your wit makes others witty.”
Letter to Voltaire, as quoted in Short Sayings of Great Men : With Historical and Explanatory Notes (1882) by Samuel Arthur Bent, and Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922) revised and enlarged by Kate Loise Roberts
“The more a man knows, the more he forgives.”
Widely attributed to Catherine II online, this has been attributed to Confucius in published books, but no print sources attribute this to Catherine.
Misattributed
Memoirs
Item 194.1
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
“I like to praise and reward loudly, to blame quietly.”
As quoted in The Historians' History of the World (1904) by Henry Smith Williams, p. 423
As quoted in The Affairs of Women: A Modern Miscellany (2006) by Colin Bingham, p. 367
Wariant: I praise loudly. I blame softly.
Memoirs
And this is the Origin of every Kind of Subjection; which feels itself more or less alleviated, in Proportion to the Situation of the Subjects.And, consequently, as the Law of Nature commands Us to take as much Care, as lies in Our Power, of the Prosperity of all the People; we are obliged to alleviate the Situation of the Subjects, as much as sound Reason will permit. And therefore, to shun all Occasions of reducing People to a State of Slavery, except the utmost Necessity should inevitably oblige us to do it; in that Case, it ought not to be done for our own Benefit; but for the Interest of the State: Yet even that Case is extremely uncommon. Of whatever Kind Subjection may be, the civil Laws ought to guard, on the one Hand, against the Abuse of Slavery, and, on the other, against the Dangers which may arise from it.
Proposals for a New Law Code (1768)
