“She was intelligent, well read, and a shrewd judge of character. During the coup, she had shown determination and courage; once on… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share Image
“For Catherine, the lesson was that more than intelligence and goodwill were needed to break down the traditions, prejudices, and ignorance of… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share Image
“Catherine, who knew little about sex, about erections and foreskins, and, certainly, nothing about phimosis, knew well what was expected of wives… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share Image
“I used to say to myself that happiness and misery depend on ourselves. If you feel unhappy, rise above it and act so that… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
Four of my children are daughters, and I've watched them devote themselves to reading books about how little girls learn to become women -… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“For twenty years, Peter had been playing with soldiers; first toys, then boys, then grown men. His games had grown from drills involving a… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“Charles arrived around eight a.m. with a squadron of Drabants and began riding along the bank at the water’s edge to inspect the men… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“Books were her refuge. Having set herself to learn the Russian language, she read every Russian book she could find. But French was the… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“In January in Northern Russia, everything vanishes beneath a deep blanket of whiteness. Rivers, fields, trees, roads, and houses disappear, and the landscape becomes… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“Why Lenin triumphed, why Nicholas failed, why Alexandra placed the fate of her son, her husband and his empire in the hands of a… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“This marriage had resulted from impulse: he had seen her on a high-flying swing at Tsarkoe Selo and her skirt, flared by the breeze,… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“To prove to [her friend, Swedish diplomat Count] Gyllenborg that she was not superficial, Catherine composed an essay about herself, "so that he would… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“She was intelligent, well read, and a shrewd judge of character. During the coup, she had shown determination and courage; once on the throne,… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“Don't worry. Don't worry. The Devil does none of these things. He neither smokes nor drinks nor engages in revelry, and yet he is… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“Only one further prize remained on the entire North Pacific coast, the peninsula of Korea. Although Japan clearly regarded Korea as essential to her… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“Gregory Rasputin, his bloodstream filled with poison, his body punctured by bullets, had died by drowning.” — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
“One sultan, Ibrahim the Mad, encased his beard in a network of diamonds and passed his days tossing gold coins to the fish in… — Robert K. Massie Copy Share
