Peter the Great — "I would rather be a good artisan than a bad king."
I would rather be a good artisan than a bad king.
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More from Peter the Great
"I have reformed the church, but I cannot reform the faith."
"I would rather have a hundred good engineers than a thousand good soldiers."
"I have two hands, and I can work wonders with them."
"To educate the people, one must first educate the nobility."
"I have no patience for those who resist progress."
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.