Selected Quotes by Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great- Alexander III of Macedon (July 20/21 356 BC – June 10/11 323 BC), or more commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. At the age of 20, he succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC. He spent most of his ruling years conducting lengthy military campaigns throughout Western Asia and Egypt. By the age of 30, he had one of the largest empire in history. It stretched from Greece to northwestern India. He was also undefeated in battle and is considered to be one of history's greatest and most successful military commanders.
He was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. In 335 BC, shortly after he became the king of Macedon, he reasserted control over Thrace and Illyria and destroyed Thebes. He then led the League of Corinth, and launched the pan-Hellenic project envisioned by his father. He assumed leadership over all Greece in their conquest of the Persian Empire.
Alexander invaded India but due to the demand of his homesick troops, he eventually turned back and later died in 323 BC in Babylon, the city of Mesopotamia that he had planned to establish as his empire's capital.
His death marked the start of the Hellenistic period. He founded more than twenty cities, with the most prominent being the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander became a legend, compared to the classical heroes in the mould of Achilles. His military achievements made him the measure against which many later military leaders would be compared. His tactics remain a significant subject of study in military academies worldwide.
Selected Quotes by Alexander the Great:
“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”
- His teacher was the legendary philosopher Aristotle
Alexander the Great, Intelligence/Wisdom
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
Alexander the Great, Goals
“But truly, if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”
Alexander the Great, Goals
“There are no more worlds to conquer!”
Alexander the Great, Goals
“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, Goals
“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, Goals
“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, Goals
“There are so many worlds, and I have not yet conquered even one.”
Alexander the Great, Goals
“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.”Alexander the Great, Goals, Management
“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.”
Alexander the Great, Anger and Fighting
“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, Anger and Fighting
“Holy shadows of the dead, I am 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 of the Battle of Chaeronea
Alexander the Great, Anger and Fighting
“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.”
Alexander the Great, Anger and Fighting, Courage
“When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back.”
Alexander the Great, Life, Time
“Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.”
Alexander the Great, Life, Sex
“Remember, upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”
Alexander the Great, Society
“Each moment free from fear makes a man immortal.”
Alexander the Great, Courage
“Glory crowns the deeds of those who expose themselves to toils and dangers.”
Alexander the Great, Success, Courage
“Toil and risk are the price of glory, but it is a lovely thing to live with courage and die leaving an everlasting fame.”
Alexander the Great, Success, Courage
“My treasure lies in my friends.”
Alexander the Great, Friendship
“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.”
Alexander the Great, Work
“For my part, I think that to a man of spirit there is no other aim and end of his labours except the labours themselves.”
Alexander the Great, Work
“When you bury my body, don’t build any momentum and keep my hands outside so that the world knows that the person who won the whole world had nothing in his hand while dying.”
Alexander the Great, Death
“When my casket is being carried to the grave, leave my hands hanging outside. For empty-handed, I came into this world and empty-handed, I shall go! My whole life has been a hallow waste, a futile exercise, for no one at death can take anything with them!”
Alexander the Great, Death
“A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough.”
- Alexander's tombstone epitaph”