Peter the Great — "The Russian people are like children who will never learn their alphabet unless …"
The Russian people are like children who will never learn their alphabet unless compelled by their teacher.
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More from Peter the Great
"I have undertaken to reform my people, and I am not afraid of anyone."
"My children, do not cry; I have left you a great inheritance."
"I am a Tsar, but I need to learn to build ships."
"My greatest weapon is my perseverance."
"We are not here to play, but to 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.
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