Peter the Great — "The beard is a superfluous ornament."
The beard is a superfluous ornament.
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More from Peter the Great
"I shall cut a window through to Europe."
"I have reformed my people, and now I must reform myself."
"He who is afraid of death will never do anything great."
"I have never spared myself, and I have never spared others."
"I have left instructions for two things: to make Russia great, and to make myself a good Christian."
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.