- Catherine: [to Countess Bruce] My dear, I am about to seize the throne of Russia. What on earth shall I wear?
- [to Potemkin]
- Catherine: [in Latin, quoting Vergil] Blessings on your courage, boy; that's the way to the stars.
- Catherine: [voiceover] I'm told that in France they call me "Catherine le Grand." *Le* Grand... the masculine gender. "Catherine the Great."
- [to Saltykov, regarding Catherine]
- Elizabeth: I didn't bring her here to read books. I brought her here to breed sons.
- [first lines]
- Catherine: The 21st of August 1745... my wedding day. I was fifteen. The Grand Duke Peter was two years older, and we were both pawns in a political game.
- Razumovsky: [refering to his position as lover to Empress Elizabeth] The Emperor of the Night takes many positions, but none of them political.
- Catherine: It may take time, but together we are going to change this country.
- Catherine: [in French] L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers.
- Bestuzhev: [translating] "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains"?
- Catherine: Rousseau. Don't you read him?
- Bestuzhev: Um, he's a bit revolutionary for me, Ma'am.
- [Catherine smiles knowingly; Bestuzhev does the same but looks uncomfortable]
- Bestuzhev: [to Catherine] Politics is a brutal business, Ma'am. Are you sure you've got the stomach for it?
- Catherine: [to Bestuzhev] All or nothing. If I commit myself to you, you must commit yourself to me!
- Catherine: Language. I've been corresponding with Monsieur Voltaire on the subject. And he tells a delightful story about a lady at the court of Versailles. This... grand personnage was heard to say, "That dreadful bother at the Tower of Babel, language getting all mixed up... such a pity! Otherwise, everyone would always have spoken French."