Peter the Great — "I have often been accused of cruelty, but I have never been cruel without reason…"
I have often been accused of cruelty, but I have never been cruel without reason.
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More from Peter the Great
"Why do you hesitate? Do you doubt my power? I can make a nobleman out of my groom, but only God can make a groom out of my nobleman."
"I have no desire to be a king in name only."
"I have no fear of consequences, only of inaction."
"My children, do not cry; I have left you a great inheritance."
"I have never been afraid of hard work."
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.