That the arrested man has committed blasphemy is a proof that he does not know God. That he has slandered me, I pardon him. But for his insulting of an honorable member of the council, he shall be punished as an example and be sent to Spandau prison for half an hour.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Kerls, wollt ihr ewig leben?
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Religions must all be tolerated and the state has to keep an eye that none of them shall derogate the other, because here everyone must find his salvation in his own way.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Alle Religionen sind gleich und gut, wenn nur die Leute, die sie praktizeren, ehrliche Leute sind; und wenn Türken und Heiden kämen und wollten das Lande pöpulieren, so wollen wir ihnen Moscheen und Kirchen bauen.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Avec toute l’algèbre du monde on n’est souvent qu’un sot lorsqu’on ne sait pas autre chose. Peut-être dans dix ans la société tirera-t-elle de l’avantage des courbes que des songe-creux d’algébristes auront carrées laborieusement. J’en félicite d’avance la postérité; mais, à vous parler vrai, je ne vois dans tous ces calculs qu’une scientifique extravagance. Tout ce qui n’est ni utile ni agréable ne vaut rien. Quant aux choses utiles, elles sont toutes trouvées; et, pour les agréables, j’espère que le bon goût n’y admettra point d’algèbre.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

I think it better to keep a profound silence with regard to the Christian fables, which are canonized by their antiquity and the credulity of absurd and insipid people.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

A hat that let the rain in.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Je voulus faire un jet d’eau dans mon jardin; Euler calcula l’effort des roues pour faire monter l’eau dans un bassin, d’où elle devait retomber par des canaux, afin de jaillir à Sans-Souci. Mon moulin a été exécuté géométriquement, et il n’a pu élever une goutte d’eau à cinquante pas du bassin. Vanité des vanités! vanité de la géométrie!
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

A single Voltaire will do more honor to France than a thousand pedants, a thousand false wits, a thousand great men of inferior order.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

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 II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

I am the first servant of my state.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Bevor ich das gegenwärtige Urteil bestätige, bin Ich doch neugierig, die Mittel zu wissen, deren man sich bedienen will, einen Soldaten 2000 Taler bezahlen zu lassen. Note on a verdict against a soldier who was sentenced to a fine of 2000 thaler for smuggling.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Neither antiquity nor any other nation has imagined a more atrocious and blasphemous absurdity than that of eating God. — This is how Christians treat the autocrat of the universe.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

The priest will stay. If he does not want to get up with the others on Judgement Day, he may well keep resting on his back.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Alle Religionen sind gleich und gut, wenn nur die Leute, die sie praktizeren, ehrliche Leute sind; und wenn Türken und Heiden kämen und wollten das Lande pöpulieren, so wollen wir ihnen Moscheen und Kirchen bauen.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

I am the first servant of my state.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Bevor ich das gegenwärtige Urteil bestätige, bin Ich doch neugierig, die Mittel zu wissen, deren man sich bedienen will, einen Soldaten 2000 Taler bezahlen zu lassen. Note on a verdict against a soldier who was sentenced to a fine of 2000 thaler for smuggling.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

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 II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

A single Voltaire will do more honor to France than a thousand pedants, a thousand false wits, a thousand great men of inferior order.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

That the arrested man has committed blasphemy is a proof that he does not know God. That he has slandered me, I pardon him. But for his insulting of an honorable member of the council, he shall be punished as an example and be sent to Spandau prison for half an hour.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Religions must all be tolerated and the state has to keep an eye that none of them shall derogate the other, because here everyone must find his salvation in his own way.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

A hat that let the rain in.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Kerls, wollt ihr ewig leben?
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

The priest will stay. If he does not want to get up with the others on Judgement Day, he may well keep resting on his back.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Avec toute l’algèbre du monde on n’est souvent qu’un sot lorsqu’on ne sait pas autre chose. Peut-être dans dix ans la société tirera-t-elle de l’avantage des courbes que des songe-creux d’algébristes auront carrées laborieusement. J’en félicite d’avance la postérité; mais, à vous parler vrai, je ne vois dans tous ces calculs qu’une scientifique extravagance. Tout ce qui n’est ni utile ni agréable ne vaut rien. Quant aux choses utiles, elles sont toutes trouvées; et, pour les agréables, j’espère que le bon goût n’y admettra point d’algèbre.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

I think it better to keep a profound silence with regard to the Christian fables, which are canonized by their antiquity and the credulity of absurd and insipid people.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Neither antiquity nor any other nation has imagined a more atrocious and blasphemous absurdity than that of eating God. — This is how Christians treat the autocrat of the universe.
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote

Je voulus faire un jet d’eau dans mon jardin; Euler calcula l’effort des roues pour faire monter l’eau dans un bassin, d’où elle devait retomber par des canaux, afin de jaillir à Sans-Souci. Mon moulin a été exécuté géométriquement, et il n’a pu élever une goutte d’eau à cinquante pas du bassin. Vanité des vanités! vanité de la géométrie!
- Frederick II of Prussia Rate and Discuss this quote