Frederick The Great Quotes

Quotes about:

• Diplomacy without military might is like music without instruments.

  Frederick The Great

  Military, Interesting, Might

  133 Copy quote

• Great things are achieved only when we take great risks.

  Frederick The Great

  Risk, Great Things, Great Risk

  153 Copy quote

• The more I see of men, the better I like my dog.

  Frederick The Great

  Dog, Animal, Men

  152 Copy quote

• The greatest and noblest pleasure which we have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices.

  Frederick The Great

  Sad, Truth, Diversity

  106 Copy quote

• Christianity is an old metaphysical fiction, stuffed with fables, contradictions and absurdities: it was spawned in the fevered imagination of the Orientals, and then spread to our Europe, where some fanatics espoused it, where some intriguers pretended to be convinced by it and where some imbeciles actually believed it.

  Frederick The Great

  Europe, Imagination, Fiction

  Attributed to Frederick II of Prussia in "Civilization: The West and the Rest", Book by Niall Ferguson, 2011.

  156 Copy quote

• If soldiers were to begin to think, not one of them would remain in the army.

  Frederick The Great

  War, Army, Thinking

  25 Copy quote

• Little minds try to defend everything at once, but sensible people look at the main point only; they parry the worst blows and stand a little hurt if thereby they avoid a greater one. If you try to hold everything, you hold nothing.

  Frederick The Great

  Hurt, Blow, People

  135 Copy quote

• It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country as a consequence. Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented. His Majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war.

  Frederick The Great

  Country, Kings, War

  "Alcohol in the Western World" by Bert L. Vallée, Scientific American, Volume 278, No. 6, pp. 80-85, ru.scribd.com. June 1998.

  142 Copy quote

• Great advantage is drawn from knowledge of your adversary, and when you know the measure of his intelligence and character, you can use it to play on his weakness.

  Frederick The Great

  Military, Character, Play

  Frederick the Great, Thomas R. Phillips (2012). “Instructions for His Generals”, p.67, Courier Corporation

  119 Copy quote

• Be more than you seem to be.

  Frederick The Great

  Seems

  82 Copy quote

• All religions must be tolerated ... every man must go to heaven in his own way. [Die Religionen müssen alle toleriert werden ... denn hier muss ein jeder nach seiner Fasson selig werden.]

  Frederick The Great

  Men, Heaven, Atheism

  148 Copy quote

• Every man has a wild beast within him.

  Frederick The Great

  Men, Beast, Every Man

  Letter to Voltaire (1759)

  116 Copy quote

• I am up and about when I am ill, and in the most appalling weather. I am on horseback when other men would be flat out on their beds, complaining. We are made for action, and activity is the sovereign remedy for all physical ills.

  Frederick The Great

  Military, Men, Weather

  103 Copy quote

• A man with his heart in his profession imagines and finds resources where the worthless and lazy despair.

  Frederick The Great

  Life, Heart, Men

  Frederick the Great (2012). “Instructions for His Generals”, p.44, Courier Corporation

  40 Copy quote

• If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.

  Frederick The Great

  Government, Prussia, Philosopher

  29 Copy quote

• It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.

  Frederick The Great

  Defeated

  54 Copy quote

• Theologians are all alike, of whatever religion or country they may be; their aim is always to wield despotic authority over men's consciences; they therefore persecute all of us who have the temerity to tell the truth.

  Frederick The Great

  Country, Men, Atheism

  95 Copy quote

• Man is made for error; it enters his mind naturally, and he discovers a few truths only with the greatest effort.

  Frederick The Great

  Men, Errors, Effort

  30 Copy quote

• A man, who can, in cold blood, hunt and torture a poor, innocent animal, cannot feel much compassion for the distress of his own species.

  Frederick The Great

  Men, Compassion, Hunting

  107 Copy quote

• An educated people can be easily governed.

  Frederick The Great

  Education, Government, People

  74 Copy quote

• A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.

  Frederick The Great

  Hate, Rain, Crowns

  89 Copy quote

• No government can exist without taxation. The money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress.

  Frederick The Great

  Art, Government, People

  97 Copy quote

• God is always with the strongest battalions.

  Frederick The Great

  War, Strongest

  Letter to Duchess Louise Dorothea von Gotha, 8 May 1760

  28 Copy quote

• Being goal directed is not enough to conquer your enemy. To achieve your goal you need to know and be able to utilize all the resources available to you. This includes the knowledge of all those available to you as well as using the physical resources and those who control them.

  Frederick The Great

  Goal, Enemy, Needs

  66 Copy quote

• Artillery adds dignity, to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl.

  Frederick The Great

  Military, Add, Ugly

  79 Copy quote

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