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Alexander the Great
19 quotes
“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.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Know ye not that the end and object of conquest is to avoid doing the same thing as the conquered?”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not steal victory.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 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 Alexand…
“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 the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So would I, if I were Parmenion.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Variants: I too, if I were Parmenion. But I am Alexander. So would I, if I were Parmenion. So should I, if I were Parmenion. So should I, if I were Parmenion: but as I am Alexander, I cannot. I would do it if I was Parm…
“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.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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?”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To the strongest!”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After being asked, by his generals on his deathbed, who was to succeed him. It has been speculated that his voice may have been indistinct and that he may have said "Krateros" (the name of one of his generals), but Krat…
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On taking charge of an attack on a fortress, in Pushing to the Front, or, Success under Difficulties : A Book of Inspiration (1896) by Orison Swett Marden, p. 55
“I consider not what Parmenion should receive, but what Alexander should give.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his gifts for the services of others, as quoted in Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, or Origin of Common Phrases, Allusions, and Words That Have A Tale To Tell (1905) by Ebenezer Cobham B…
“Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Alexander the Great (1973) by Robin Lane Fox
“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?”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Plutarch. The age of Alexander: nine Greek lives. Penguin, 1977. p. 294
“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.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Plutarch in Life of Alexander from Plutarch's Lives as translated by John Dryden (1683)
“If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos...”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 — but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay — and not much of at that; we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops — Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes — they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they — Darius!”
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source