Peter the Great — "I would rather lose a battle than lose my spirit."
I would rather lose a battle than lose my spirit.
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More from Peter the Great
"I would rather have a hundred good engineers than a thousand good soldiers."
"I am not afraid of the devil himself, but I am afraid of a fool."
"Members of the guilds purveying for our household must shave their beards and moustaches. But, if it happens that some of them do not wish to shave their beards and moustaches, let a yearly tax be col…"
"I have a mind that is always looking for new things."
"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.