“Books were her refuge. Having set herself to learn the Russian language, she read every Russian book she could find. But French was the language she preferred, and she read French books indiscriminately, picking up whatever her ladies-in-waiting happened to… — 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
