Peter the Great — "I would rather lose a battle than lose my spirit."
I would rather lose a battle than lose my spirit.
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More from Peter the Great
"I can conquer the world, but I cannot conquer my own stubbornness."
"When you have to deal with a bear, you have to kill it or let it run away. You cannot just cut off its paws and expect it to be harmless."
"Ignorance and obstinacy are the greatest enemies of the state."
"I will make Russia a great power, even if it kills me."
"He who is afraid of death will never do anything great."
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.