Among many emperor and empress reigned Russia, Catherine The Great is the very famous one. She became known as Catherine The Great, not for no reasons. She reached many achievements during 34 years of her reign, which also made her the longest-ruling woman leader in Russia. Due to her many achievements, her period of the ruling is considered as the Golden Age of the Russia Empire. No wonder Catherina The Great is named as one of the greatest Russian rulers.
Under her leadership, Russia gained victories against some of the biggest empires. For example, starting from the late 17th century until early of the 19th century, Russia had some conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, a Muslim empire popular for its large population and big influence. This empire was in control over the major port, The Black Sea. Russian needed access to this port to strengthen its power. Catherine The Great was the one who successfully gave the Ottoman Empire some of their worst defeats. As a result, Russia gained the right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea.
Catherine The Great did not only use her power to expand Russia territory but also to make some change in Russia’s educational system. She made primary school and high school free of charge and accessible by all free classes. She made a detailed guideline for teachers where they could find explanations about the subject to be taught based on ages, complemented with the teaching method. Her view of how important education and her effort to apply reformation on it showed results. Thanks to her educational system, there were around 62,000 pupils got educated in 549 public institutions.
From a few examples of Catherine The Great’s achievements, we can conclude that there are many things we can learn from her. To be able to lead in a long time and make so many great impacts require great and inspirational characters. One of many ways to learn about her is through her famous sayings or quotes. These are some of the famous quotes by Catherine The Great which shall guide our life principles.
Famous Quotes By Catherine The Great
1. I Praise Loudly. I Blame Softly
An important key behind Catherine The Great success in leading the empire is great leadership. We know that a great leader does not only give orders, but they also want you to be better through your work. She understood how significant the roles of her royalties in assisting her in doing many changes in Russia. This quote shows that Catherine The Great believes that when she complimented, she would do it in public, specific, clear, and generous. Why? Because that is how you gain people’s loyalty. People feel that you notice their effort and hard works and show you an appreciation for that.
In reverse, when Catherine The Great wanted to evaluate or give criticism, she would do it in private. There is no use of doing it in public because that would only make people feel humiliated. Humiliating does not help people to be better. Instead, Catherine The Great showed how gracious she was by taking private times to make clear and direct corrections. This is not only a quote because we can see that it was applied by this great female leader and look at what happened to the whole of Russia 🙂
2. A Great Wind Is Blowing And That Gives You Either Imagination Or A Headache
A great wind, which means change, is often associated with something negative. Even from a very long time ago, people felt threatened over this term. Many people think that change means a bad thing that will put them in danger or bad situations. But not with Catherine The Great. She knew that there was always a chance that a change would turn into something good (opportunity) or bad (headache). She decided to choose the good one.
One of the great wind that blew during her reign was her administration reformation. She aimed to make her huge empire to work effectively. She divided Russia into provinces and districts supervised by a governor. She provided each province with police and judicial apparatus to work along with the government officials. As a result, she has an effective government. This is solid proof that we do not need to be afraid of change. Embrace it and believe that it will bring a good outcome.
3. I Am One Of The People Who Love The “Why” Of Things
This is one of Catherine The Great’s Quote that shall guide our life principle. She gave great examples of not being afraid to question things. As mentioned above, one of her great achievements was to make reformation in the educational field. She saw the real condition of education in Russia, did not afraid to face the truth that it needed many improvements (and even changes!). if she did not keep on questioning this condition, Russia’s education system would never be reformed. She realized that she could not just leave Russian’s education the way it was. She saw that emphasize in this particular field was urgently needed. The reformation was a must. Not only that she made a guideline for teachers on what and how to teach, but also built more schools and education institutions. For orphaned and abandoned children, she made sure that they still had their right to get education by building boarding schools. That way they do not gain knowledge daily but also a place to live.
She also showed how much she cared about education for women. During her reign, she built Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg. This is Europe’s first educational institute for women financed by the state. To make sure that all girls from any class had the same access to education, she also built the Novodevichy Institute in Moscow, an institute aimed specifically for daughters of commoners.
From the way she led her country and how great Russia was under her leadership, we can see that these 3 Catherine The Great Quotes shall guide our life principles too.