Alexander the Great
19 quotes
“In the end, when it is over, all that matters is what you have done.”
“How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.”
“Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”
“There are no more worlds to conquer.”
“I would rather live a short life of glory than a long life of obscurity.”
“A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.”
“Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters.”
“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
“Now you fear punishment and beg for your lives, so I will let you free, if not for any other reason so that you can see the difference between a Greek king and a barbarian tyrant, so do not expect to suffer any harm from me. A king does not kill messengers . As quoted in the Historia Alexandri Magni of Pseudo”
“Youths of the Pellaians and of the Macedonians and of the Hellenic Amphictiony and of the Lakedaimonians and of the Corinthians... and of all the Hellenic peoples, join your fellow”
“If I were Alexander, I would accept the terms”
“Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Hellas [Greece] and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury. I have been appointed leader of the Greeks, and wanting to punish the Persians I have come to Asia, which I took from you. Alexander's letter to Persian king Darius III of Persia in response to a truce plea, as quoted in Anabasis Alexandri by Arrian ; translated as Anabasis of Alexander by P. A. Brunt, for the "Loeb Edition" Book II 14, 4”
“Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service”
“I do not steal victory. Reply to the suggestion by Parmenion , before the Battle of Gaugamela , that he attack the Persian camp during the night, reported in Life of Alexander by Plutarch , as quoted in A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (1900) by John Bagnell Bury”
“On the Fortune of Alexander”
“Holy shadows of the dead, I'm not to blame for your cruel and bitter fate, but the accursed rivalry which brought sister nations and brother people, to fight one another. I do not feel happy for this victory of mine. On the contrary, I would be glad, brothers, if I had all of you standing here next to me, since we are united by the same language, the same blood and the same visions . Addressing the dead Hellenes (the Athenean and Thebean Greeks) of the Battle of Chaeronea , as quoted in Historiae Alexandri Magni by Quintus Curtius Rufus”
“Demosthenes and Cicero. Alexander and Caesar”
“What an excellent horse do they lose, for want of address and boldness to manage him! ... I could manage this horse better than others do. Statement upon seeing Bucephalas being led away as useless and beyond training, as quoted in Lives by Plutarch , as translated by Arthur Hugh Clough”