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In trying to defend everything he defended nothing.

Frederick The Great

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Frederick The Great
Nothing
Trying
Prussia
Defended
Defend
Focus
Everything

More quotes by Frederick The Great

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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A man with his heart in his profession imagines and finds resources where the worthless and lazy despair.
Frederick The Great
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Artillery adds dignity, to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl.
Frederick The Great
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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
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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
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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
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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 The Great
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It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.
Frederick The Great
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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
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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
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Every man must get to Heaven his own way.
Frederick The Great
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I have no fault to find with those who teach geometry. That science is the only one which has not produced sects it is founded on analysis and on synthesis and on the calculus it does not occupy itself with the probable truth moreover it has the same method in every country.
Frederick The Great
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Our work is to present things that are as they are.
Frederick The Great
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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
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The people say what they like and then I do what I like
Frederick The Great
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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