Peter the Great — "To be a good ruler, one must also be a good servant."
To be a good ruler, one must also be a good servant.
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More from Peter the Great
"The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs."
"A ruler that has only an army has one hand, but he who has a navy has both."
"He who does not change, does not live."
"I desire that the people should learn and become more enlightened, but I cannot force them to it."
"I see nothing but good in following the example of the most civilized nations, and in introducing into Russia all that is useful and necessary."
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.