Peter the Great — "I do not desire to be a master, but a servant of my country."
I do not desire to be a master, but a servant of my country.
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More from Peter the Great
"I am a soldier and I will die as a soldier."
"The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs."
"I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself."
"A great city must have a great river."
"I have no time for those who say 'I can't'."
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.