Peter the Great — "The Russian spirit is strong, but it needs to be guided."
The Russian spirit is strong, but it needs to be guided.
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More from Peter the Great
"We need Europe for a few decades; then we must turn our back on it."
"I am a master of many trades, but a master of none."
"Ignorance and obstinacy are the greatest enemies of the state."
"I shall cut a window through to Europe."
"I shall make Russia great, even if I have to hang half of it."
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.