Tsar Quotes

“Peter, who broke his enemies on the rack and hanged them in Red Square, who had his son tortured to death, is Peter the Great. But Nicholas, whose hand was lighter than that of any tsar before him, is "Bloody Nicholas". In human terms, this is irony rich and dramatic, the more so because Nicholas knew what he was called.”
― Robert K. Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty

“One day when I was ten one of out neighbors came to the house and said that the tsar was dead and when I asked what ir meant they said that there would be a new tsar. So I did not really see why a tsar mattered.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“[Aftermath of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881]

What happened to the conspirators - Zhelyabov already in prison, Perovskaya, Kibalchich and the three surviving bombers - is that they were all hanged. This last public execution to be staged in Russia took place before a crowd of some 80,000. It was the youngest of the conspirators, eighteen-year-old Rysakov, who broke down in prison, confessed, begged for mercy, exposed as many of his comrades as he could. It did not save him from the scaffold. And on the scaffold the others coldly turned away from him, exchanging last words among themselves, leaving Rysakov to die quite alone. It was the execution of the Decembrists all over again, except that one of the hanged was a woman. There was no proper drop, only stools to be kicked away, and the stools were too low for a quick kill. Worst of all, Mikhailov's noose slipped, not once, but twice. He was heavier than the executioner, who was drunk, had bargained for. He had to be lifted up and rehanged. All took some minutes to die. Russia still had not learnt even how to hang.”
― Edward Crankshaw, The Shadow of the Winter Palace: Russia's Drift to Revolution 1825-1917

“All power has its derivation from God; the Russian Czar, however, was granted a special significance distinguishing him from the rest of the world's rulers…. He is a successor of the Caesars of the Eastern Empire,…the founders of the very creed of the Faith of Christ…. Herein lies the mystery of the deep distinction between Russia and all the nations of the world.”
― Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov, Modern Nationalism and Religion

“I don't mind whether a person is rich or poor. Once my friend, always my friend.
--Tsarina Alexandra of Russia (1872-1918)”
― Julia P. Gelardi, Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria

“As Michael spoke, a flourish of horns and maracas blasted over the speakers. The music made Veronica think of Havana in the fifties, before Fidel Castro. Men in Panama hats and women in slinky dresses enjoying decadent lives before Communism's proverbial hammer swung down. Just like tsarist Russia. For a moment, Veronica was back in the Russian dream world of ornate palaces and complicated love affairs.”
― Jennifer Laam, Secret Daughter of the Tsar

“One day when I was ten one of our neighbors came to the house and said that the tsar was dead and when I asked what ir meant they said that there would be a new tsar. So I did not really see why a tsar mattered.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“All around me is cowardice and deceit.”
― Tsar Nicholas II

“Their destiny – hers, his, that of every descendant from the Cave – would be the same as the thistle the image of which obsessed Tolstoy, the same stubborn thistle he sought out in the Caucasian mountains. He was travelling in a scrap metal car along the muddy track to Shatoi and caught a glimpse, beneath them, of tanks and vehicles incinerated in an ambush similar to the one set for the Tsar’s soldiers a century and a half earlier. He witnessed once more history’s stupid repetitions, its obtuse cruelty.”
― Juan Goytisolo, Blind Rider

“Slechts een paar malen heb ik hem zien opflakkeren: toen men herinneringen ophaalde uit het Rusland van zijn jeugd, vertelde hij haperend hoe zijn ouders in een pogrom waren afgeslacht door de dappere kozakken – die nu zo aandoenlijk kunnen zingen in Carnegie Hall, zei hij – en hoe men nagelaten had hem te doden omdat zijn moeder het wicht dat hij toen was onder haar lichaam had bedolven. Alsof het een academische vraag betrof, zei hij nadenkend: ‘Om mij te verstikken, of om mij te redden, wie zal het zeggen?’ Haar buik had men met een sabelhouw opengereten, en het zien van haar ingewanden op de aarden vloer van de hut van Prichov had de dienaars van de Tsar ontmoedigd in hun opzet om het jodengebroed van het dorp geheel uit te roeien. ‘En toch,’ zei Sam Cohn, ‘had ieder van die kozakken ook een moeder. Het is lastig om te begrijpen wat er in de wereld omgaat.’
De zeldzame malen dat hij zich in het gesprek mengde, uitte hij steeds bedenkingen die aantoonden dat hij aanhoudend op zoek was naar de diepere betekenis van de dingen en van de gebeurtenissen, en dat hij er zich op toelegde niet te haten maar begrijpen. Het was duidelijk dat hij alleen waarde hechtte aan de goedheid van de mens, en ontsteld was en verward wanneer hij boosheid ontdekte die niet door eigenbelang of hebzucht was ingegeven, en die door dergelijk gebrek aan motivering geheel onverklaarbaar werd.

[ Marnix Gijsen – Kaddisj voor Sam Cohn ]”
― Marnix Gijsen, De diaspora

“Energetic and inquisitive, he loved to learn new skills, including dentistry, which he practised on any courtier foolish enough to admit to toothache.”
― David Warnes, Chronicle of the Russian Tsars, The Reign-by-reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Russia