Peter the Great — "It is better to err on the side of severity than on the side of leniency."
It is better to err on the side of severity than on the side of leniency.
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More from Peter the Great
"The greatest joy is to see my people prosper."
"We are not in the habit of giving away cities."
"I have never spared myself, and I have never spared others."
"My greatest pleasure is to see my subjects happy and prosperous."
"God is my witness, I have done everything for the good of the state."
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.