““For twenty years, Peter had been playing with soldiers; first toys, then boys, then grown men. His games had grown from drills involving a few hundred idle stable boys and falconers to 30,000 men involved in the assault and defense of the river fort of Pressburg. Now, seeking the excitement of real combat, he looked for a fortress to besiege, and Azov, isolated at the bottom of the Ukrainian steppe, suited admirably.””
![“[On Rachmaninoff:] He was the most Russian of them all, like a cathedral in the snow. Holy, wintry, infinite, he was all the Russias.” quote by Dagmar Godowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bd9/dagmar-godowsky-48841_cathedrals_on-rachmaninoff-he-was-the-most-russian_1963247.jpg)
![“To prove to [her friend, Swedish diplomat Count] Gyllenborg that she was not superficial, Catherine composed an essay about herself, "so that he would see whether I knew myself or not." The next day, she wrote and handed to Gyllenborg an essay titled 'Portrait of a Fifteen-Year-Old Philosopher.'…” quote by Robert K. Massie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/05e/robert-k-massie-19874_catherine-the-great_to-prove-to-her-friend-swedish-diplomat_646448.jpg)
