Peter the Great — "I desire that the people should learn and become more enlightened, but I cannot …"
I desire that the people should learn and become more enlightened, but I cannot force them to it.
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More from Peter the Great
"I have no time for those who are idle."
"I have reformed my people, and now I must reform myself."
"Take example from the bees; they work for the common good."
"We are not in the habit of giving away cities."
"I am a master of many trades, but a master of none."
About Peter the Great (1672-1725)
Russian tsar (1682-1725) who Westernized Russia, founded St. Petersburg, and built Russia into a European great power. Closely associated with Catherine the Great (later Westernizing Russian empress). For an intellectual contrast, see Old Believers, Russian Orthodox traditionalist movement that rejected Patriarch Nikon's reforms and Peter's modernization — Peter's beard-shaving decrees, Western dress laws, and calendar changes triggered a religious-cultural schism — the founding poles of Russia's eternal 'European modernity vs Slavic tradition' debate that runs through Slavophiles, Solzhenitsyn, and contemporary Putin-era ideology.