I Praise Loudly I Blame Softly

This maxim is attributed to Catherine the Great in an early 20th-century historical compilation and is widely reported in biographical accounts of her management style. Catherine II ruled Russia for 34 years (1762–1796) and built one of Europe's most powerful courts, managing a large bureaucracy, the nobility, and foreign ambassadors simultaneously. Wikiquote notes the attribution is unverified in her own writing and that a similar saying has been attributed to Confucius in some publications; the principle is best understood as reflecting Catherine's documented approach to governance rather than a confirmed direct quotation.