Discover 43 best Frederick the Great quotes that will probably fuel your ambition and motivation. The great Prussian leader is best known for his role in transforming his country into a major power of its time. Even Napoleon himself paid homage by visiting his tomb in Berlin and saying that if he was still alive, France wouldn’t have been able to defeat Prussia.
Frederick the Great quotes list:
1. “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
2. “Without supplies no army is brave.” – Frederick the Great
3. “Diplomacy without arms is like a concert without a score.” – Frederick the Great
4. “It is your attitude, and the suspicion that you are maturing the boldest designs against him, that imposes on your enemy.” – Frederick the Great
5. “God is always with the strongest battalions.” – Frederick the Great
6. “A man with his heart in his profession imagines and finds resources where the worthless and lazy despair.” – Frederick the Great
7. “In my state every man can be saved after his own fashion.” – Frederick the Great
8. “As to your Newton, I confess I do not understand his void and his gravity; I admit he has demonstrated the movement of the heavenly bodies with more exactitude than his forerunners; but you will admit it is an absurdity to maintain the existence of Nothing.” – Frederick the Great
9. “The most certain way of insuring victory is to march briskly and in good order against the enemy, always endeavoring to gain ground.” – Frederick the Great
10. “Books make up no small part of human happiness.” – Frederick the Great
11. “We are made for action, and activity is the sovereign remedy for all physical ills.” – Frederick the Great
12. “The Prussian army always attacks.” – Frederick the Great
13. “Every man has a wild beast within him.” – Frederick the Great
14. “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
15. “Rascals, do you want to live forever?” – Frederick the Great
16. “Don’t forget your great guns, which are the most respectable arguments of the rights of kings.” – Frederick the Great
17. “To your care and recommendation am I indebted for having replaced a half-blind mathematician with a mathematician with both eyes, which will especially please the anatomical members of my Academy.” – Frederick the Great
18. “Everything which the enemy least expects will succeed the best.” – Frederick the Great
19. “A prince … is only the first servant of the state, who is obliged to act with probity and prudence. … As the sovereign is properly the head of a family of citizens, the father of his people, he ought on all occasions to be the last refuge of the unfortunate.” – Frederick the Great
20. “Religion is the idol of the mob; it adores everything it does not understand.” – Frederick the Great
21. “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
22. “All religions must be tolerated … every man must go to heaven in his own way.” – Frederick the Great
23. “A king is the first servant and first magistrate of the state.” – Frederick the Great
24. “Great things are achieved only when we take great risks.” – Frederick the Great
25. “It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.” – Frederick the Great
26. “Man is made for error; it enters his mind naturally, and he discovers a few truths only with the greatest effort.” – Frederick the Great
27. “Artillery adds dignity, to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl.” – Frederick the Great
28. “But France’s powerful armies, and a very large number of fortresses, ensure that the French Sovereign will possess the throne forever, and they do not have anything to fear now concerning internal wars or their neighbors invading France.” – Frederick the Great
29. “You will certainly grant me that neither antiquity nor whatever nation has devised a more repulsive and blasphemous absurdity than that of eating your God. This is the most disgusting dogma of the Christian religion, the greatest insult to the Highest Being, and the climax of madness and insanity.” – Frederick the Great
30. “He who defends everything defends nothing.” – Frederick the Great
31. “Everybody is using coffee. If possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer.” – Frederick the Great
32. “Always presume that the enemy has dangerous designs and always be forehanded with the remedy. But do not let these calculations make you timid.” – Frederick the Great
33. “An educated people can be easily governed.” – Frederick the Great
34. “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
35. “If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.” – Frederick the Great
36. “A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.” – Frederick the Great
37. “If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one of them would remain in the army.” – Frederick the Great
38. “It seems to me that man is made to act rather than to know: the principles of things escape our most persevering researches.” – Frederick the Great
39. “What is the good of experience if you do not reflect?” – Frederick the Great
40. “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
41. “He who cannot stand misfortune does not deserve good fortune.” – Frederick the Great
42. “The greatest and noblest pleasure that men can have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices.” – Frederick the Great
43. “Pleasure. Pleasure is the most real good in this life.” – Frederick the Great