Top 50 Frederick the Great Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Be more than you seem to be.”

— Frederick the Great

2. “Artillery adds dignity, to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl.”

— Frederick the Great

3. “My people must drink beer.”

— Frederick the Great

4. “The more I see of men, the better I like my dog.”

— Frederick the Great

5. “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

6. “Little minds try to defend everything at once, but sensible people look at the main point only; they parry the worst blows and stand a little hurt if thereby they avoid a greater one. If you try to hold everything, you hold nothing.”

— Frederick the Great

7. “The greatest and noblest pleasure which we have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices.”

— Frederick the Great

8. “Great things are achieved only when we take great risks.”

— Frederick the Great

9. “I am up and about when I am ill, and in the most appalling weather. I am on horseback when other men would be flat out on their beds, complaining. We are made for action, and activity is the sovereign remedy for all physical ills.”

— Frederick the Great

10. “It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.”

— Frederick the Great

11. “Man is made for error; it enters his mind naturally, and he discovers a few truths only with the greatest effort.”

— Frederick the Great

12. “A man with his heart in his profession imagines and finds resources where the worthless and lazy despair.”

— Frederick the Great

13. “Every man has a wild beast within him.”

— Frederick the Great

14. “In trying to defend everything he defended nothing.”

— Frederick the Great

15. “Christianity – An old metaphysical romance, filled with marvels, contradictions, and absurdity, born in the ardent imagination of Orientals, has spread into our Europe. Enthusiasts have purveyed it, careerists have pretended to accept it, imbeciles have believed it.”

— Frederick the Great

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16. “If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.”

— Frederick the Great

17. “Books make up no small part of human happiness.”

— Frederick the Great

18. “A king is the first servant and first magistrate of the state.”

— Frederick the Great

19. “A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.”

— Frederick the Great

20. “God is always with the strongest battalions.”

— Frederick the Great

21. “Every man must get to Heaven his own way.”

— Frederick the Great

22. “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

23. “Being goal directed is not enough to conquer your enemy. To achieve your goal you need to know and be able to utilize all the resources available to you. This includes the knowledge of all those available to you as well as using the physical resources and those who control them.”

— Frederick the Great

24. “One should never despair too soon.”

— Frederick the Great

25. “He who cannot stand misfortune does not deserve good fortune.”

— Frederick the Great

26. “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

27. “An educated people can be easily governed.”

— Frederick the Great

28. “A man, who can, in cold blood, hunt and torture a poor, innocent animal, cannot feel much compassion for the distress of his own species.”

— Frederick the Great

29. “Do not neglect the principles of foresight and know that often, puffed up with success, armies have lost the fruit of their heroism through a feeling of false security.”

— Frederick the Great

30. “Pleasure is the most real good in this life.”

— Frederick the Great

31. “Though I may not be a king in my future life, so much the better: I shall nevertheless live an active life and, on top of it, earn less ingratitude.”

— Frederick the Great

32. “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

33. “Diplomacy without arms is like a concert without a score.”

— Frederick the Great

34. “The people say what they like and then I do what I like.”

— Frederick the Great

35. “Always presume that the enemy has dangerous designs and always be forehanded with the remedy. But do not let these calculations make your timid.”

— Frederick the Great

36. “Our work is to present things that are as they are.”

— Frederick the Great

37. “My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfies us both. They are to do what they please, and I am to do what I please.”

— Frederick the Great

38. “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 Christian religion, the greatest insult to the Highest Being, the climax of madness and insanity.”

— Frederick the Great

39. “Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer.”

— Frederick the Great

40. “It is disgusting to note the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects and the amount of money that goes out of the country in consequence. Everybody is using coffee. If possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer.”

— Frederick the Great

41. “I love opposition that has convictions.”

— Frederick the Great

42. “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 the Great

43. “It has been said by a certain general, that the first object in the establishment of an army ought to be making provision for the belly, that being the basis and foundation of all operations.”

— Frederick the Great

44. “It is impossible to imitate Voltaire without being Voltaire.”

— Frederick the Great

45. “In my state every man can be saved after his own fashion.”

— Frederick the Great

46. “It is the fashion these days to make war, and presumably it will last a while yet.”

— Frederick the Great

47. “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 to maintain the existence of Nothing.”

— Frederick the Great

48. “The floods which devastate regions, the fire of the lightning which reduces cities to ashes, the poison of the plague which afflicts provinces, are not as disastrous in the world as the dangerous morals and unrestrained passions of the kings:.”

— Frederick the Great

49. “A German singer! I should as soon expect to get pleasure from the neighing of my horse.”

— Frederick the Great

50. “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