Alexander the Great Quotes - Page 2

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?

Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.

As for a limit to one’s labors, I, for one, do not recognize any for a high-minded man, except that the labors themselves should lead to noble accomplishments.

I do not steal victory.

Are there no more worlds that I might conquer?

I am dying with the help of too many physicians.

My logisticians are a humorless lot ... they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.

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.

I am involved in the land of a leonine and brave people, where every foot of the ground is like a well of steel, confronting my soldier. You have brought only one son into the world, but everyone in this land can be called an Alexander.

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.

I send you a kaffis of mustard seed, that you may taste and acknowledge the bitterness of my victory.

We of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war

There are no more worlds to conquer!

I consider not what Parmenio should receive, but what Alexander should give.

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?

Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them [worlds], we have not yet conquered one?

I foresee a great funeral contest over me.

At Achilles tomb, O fortunate youth, to have found Homer as the herald of your glory!

How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.

O Athenians, what toil do I undergo to please you!