All Quotes by Alexander the Great
“How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.”
“Through every generation of the human race there has been a constant war, a war with fear. Those who have the courage to conquer it are made free and those who are conquered by it are made to suffer until they have the courage to defeat it, or death takes them.”
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
“I wish that the Indians believed me a god, for upon the report of an enemy's valor oftentimes depends the success of a battle, and false reports have many times done as great things as true courage and resolution.”
“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.”
“Know ye not that the end and object of conquest is to avoid doing the same thing as the conquered?”
“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.”
“If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes.”
“I do not steal victory.”
“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.”
“So would I, if I were Parmenion.”
“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-soldiers and entrust yourselves to me, so that we can move against the barbarians and liberate ourselves from the Persian bondage, for as Greeks we should not be slaves to barbarians.”
“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.”
“Are you still to learn that the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?”
“To the strongest!”
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
“I consider not what Parmenion should receive, but what Alexander should give.”
“Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.”
“Shall I pass by and leave you lying there because of the expedition you led against Greece, or shall I set you up again because of your magnanimity and your virtues in other respects?”
“Dinocrates, I appreciate your design as excellent in composition, and I am delighted with it, but I apprehend that anybody who should found a city in that spot would be censured for bad judgement. For as a newborn babe cannot be nourished without the nurse's milk, nor conducted to the approaches that lead to growth in life, so a city cannot thrive without fields and the fruits thereof pouring into its walls.”
“For my part, I assure you, I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”
“If we turn our backs of the Scythians who have provoked us, how shamefully shall we march against the revolted Bactrians; but if we pass Tanais and make the Scythians feel, by dear experience, that we are invincible, not in Asia only, it is not to be doubted but that Europe itself, as well as Asia, will come within the bounds of our conquests.”
“I wish that the Indians believed me a god, for upon the report of an enemy's valor oftentimes depends the success of a battle, and false reports have many times done as great things as true courage and resolution.”
“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.”
“How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.”
“My father will anticipate everything. He will leave you and me no chance to do a great and brilliant deed.”
“There is nothing impossible to they who will try.”
“I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.”
“Whatever possession we gain by our sword cannot be sure or lasting, but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.”
“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.”
“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”
“If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”
“How should a man be capable of grooming his own horse, or of furbishing his own spear and helmet, if he allows himself to become unaccustomed to tending even his own person, which is his most treasured belonging?”
“How happy had it been for me had I been slain in the battle. It had been far more noble to have died the victim of the enemy than fall a sacrifice to the rage of my friends.”
“For my own part, I would rather excel in knowledge of the highest secrets of philosophy than in arms.”
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
“Whatever possession we gain by our sword cannot be sure or lasting, but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.”
“You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.”
“My father will anticipate everything. He will leave you and me no chance to do a great and brilliant deed.”
“Oh! Most miserable wretch that I am! Why have I not learnt how to swim?”
“My father will anticipate everything. He will leave you and me no chance to do a great and brilliant deed.”
“How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.”
“Soldiers, I had lately like to have been taken from you by the attempt of a few desperate men, but by the grace and providence of the gods, I am still preserved.”
“Who does not desire such a victory by which we shall join places in our Kingdom, so far divided by nature, and for which we shall set up trophies in another conquered world?”
“So far as I am concerned, I could not be accused of having set eyes, or having wished to set eyes, upon Darius' wife: on the contrary, I have refused even to listen to those who spoke to me of her beauty.”
“Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”
“Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters.”
“So far as I am concerned, I could not be accused of having set eyes, or having wished to set eyes, upon Darius' wife: on the contrary, I have refused even to listen to those who spoke to me of her beauty.”
“I do not pilfer victory.”
“A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.”
“I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.”
“Shall I, that have destroyed my Preservers, return home?”
“I wish that the Indians believed me a god, for upon the report of an enemy's valor oftentimes depends the success of a battle, and false reports have many times done as great things as true courage and resolution.”
“His father is governor of Media, and though he has the greatest command given him of all the rest of my generals, he still covetously desires more, and my being without issue spurs him on to this wicked design. But Philotas takes wrong measures.”
“If we turn our backs of the Scythians who have provoked us, how shamefully shall we march against the revolted Bactrians; but if we pass Tanais and make the Scythians feel, by dear experience, that we are invincible, not in Asia only, it is not to be doubted but that Europe itself, as well as Asia, will come within the bounds of our conquests.”
“I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”
“Soldiers, I had lately like to have been taken from you by the attempt of a few desperate men, but by the grace and providence of the gods, I am still preserved.”
“A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough.”
“I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”