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
"I have built a city, but I cannot build a people."
"I would rather lose a battle than lose my spirit."
"I am a reformer, not a destroyer."
"I have tamed the bear, but I cannot tame my own passions."
"I would rather have a few good men than many bad ones."
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.