Alexander the Great was one of the world’s greatest conquerors and solidified the Greek Empire as one of the great empires in all of history. His tactical genius is a pillar of leadership and success which men such as Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte looked to for guidance in their own campaigns for conquest and we're sure you'll find something, too. The quotes presented here are representative of the kind of brilliance that Alexander presented throughout his life and we are sure these quotes can inspire you to your own quest for greatness.
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.
For my own part, I would rather excel in knowledge of the highest secrets of philosophy than in arms.
Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters.
True love never has a happy ending, because there is no ending to true love.
Bury my body and don’t build any monument. Keep my hands out so the people know the one who won the world had nothing in hand when he died.
To the strongest!
In faith and hope the world will disagree, but all mankind’s concern is charity.
I foresee a great funeral contest over me.
The end and object of conquest is to avoid doing the same thing as the conquered.
With the right attitude, self imposed limitations vanish
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.
Without Knowledge, Skill cannot be focused. Without Skill, Strength cannot be brought to bear and without Strength, Knowledge may not be applied.
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.
Every light is not the sun.
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.
How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.
I send you a kaffis of mustard seed, that you may taste and acknowledge the bitterness of my victory.
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.
I want the road to be covered with my treasure so that everybody sees that material wealth acquired on earth, stays on earth
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?
I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that, in the face of death, even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal
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.
I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.
Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.
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 indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
On their side more men are standing, on ours more will fight!
Now that the wars are coming to an end, I wish you to prosper in peace. May all mortals from now on live like one people in concord and for mutual advancement. Consider the world as your country, with laws common to all and where the best will govern irrespective of tribe. I do not distinguish among men, as the narrow-minded do, both among Greeks and Barbarians. I am not interested in the descendance of the citizens or their racial origins. I classify them using one criterion: their virtue. For me every virtuous foreigner is a Greek and every evil Greek worse than a Barbarian. If differences ever develop between you never have recourse to arms, but solve them peacefully. If necessary, I should be your arbitrator.
I do not steal victory.
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.
God must have loved Afghans because he made them so beautiful.
There is something noble in hearing myself ill spoken of when I am doing well.
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?
I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.
In the end, when it’s over, all that matters is what you’ve done.
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?
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.
May God keep you away from the venom of the cobra, the teeth of the tiger, and the revenge of the Afghans.
When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back.
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?
Whatever possession we gain by our sword cannot be sure or lasting, but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.
Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.
Let us conduct ourselves so that all men wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies.
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 consider not what Parmenio should receive, but what Alexander should give.
Toil and risk are the price of glory, but
I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity.
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.
My treasure lies in my friends .
My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.
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.
O fortunate youth, to have found Homer as the herald of your glory!
But truly, if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.
My father will anticipate everything. He will leave you and me no chance to do a great and brilliant deed
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.
Be First to Comment