50+ Alexander the Great Quotes on Life, Death, and Love

Alexander the Great quotes are still widely celebrated and recognized today, over 2,000 years after his death. The ancient Greek king and military leader left a lasting impact on the world through his military conquests and philosophical beliefs.

Many of his quotes have become famous for their wisdom and insight into leadership, strategy, and life. These words continue to inspire and motivate individuals from all walks of life to strive for greatness and success.

21 Best Alexander the Great Quotes of All Time

Here are some of the most famous Alexander the Great quotes to remember:

• A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.
• 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.
• Are you still to learn that the end and perfection of our victories are to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?
• At Achilles’ tomb, O fortunate youth, to have found Homer as the herald of your glory!
• 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?
• Every light is not the sun.
• 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.
• Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters.
• 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 the wrong measures.
• 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 about 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.
• 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 am dying with the help of too many physicians.
• I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
• 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.

• I am not afraid of an army of lions led by sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
• I consider not what Parmenio should receive, but what Alexander should give.
• I do not pilfer victory.
• I foresee a great funeral contest over me.
• 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.
• I want the road to be covered with my treasure so that everybody sees that material wealth acquired on earth, stays on earth.
• I wish that the Indians believed me a god, for upon the report of an enemy’s valor oftentimes depends on the success of a battle, and false reports have many times done as great things as true courage and resolution.
• I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity.
• If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
• If we turn our backs on 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.
• In faith and hope the world will disagree, but all mankind’s concern is charity.
• It is better to have no women to dinner at all than to have only ugly ones.
• My father will anticipate everything. He will leave you and me no chance to do a great and brilliant deed.
• My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.
• My treasure lies in my friends.
• 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 descendants 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.
• Oh! Most miserable wretch that I am! Why have I not learned how to swim?
• On their side more men are standing, on ours, more will fight!
• Remember, the conduct of each depends on the fate of all.
• 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?
• Shall I, that have destroyed my Preservers, return home?
• 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.
• So would I, if I were Parmenion.
• Soldiers, I had lately liked 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.
• The best prophet is he who guesses well.
• There is something noble in hearing myself ill-spoken when I am doing well.
• 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.
• When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back.
• With the right attitude, self-imposed limitations vanish.
• Without Knowledge, Skill cannot be focused. Without Skill, Strength cannot be brought to bear and without Strength, Knowledge may not be applied.
• 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.
• Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Hellas [Greece] and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury.
• Youths of the Pellaians and of the Macedonians and of the Hellenic Amphictiony and of the Lakedaimonians and of the Corinthians.

2 Afghanistan Quotes by Alexander the Great

Here are a couple of the most famous quotes on Afghanistan by Alexander the Great:

• God must have loved Afghans because he made them so beautiful.
• May God keep you away from the venom of the cobra, the teeth of the tiger, and the revenge of the Afghans.

10 Alexander the Great Quotes in Hindi

Check out these quotes by Alexander the Great in Hindi:

• लगातार कोशिश करने वालों के लिए कुछ भी असंभव नहीं होता।
• हर आने वाला प्रकाश सूरज नहीं है।
• जिस तरह स्वर्ग में दो सूरज नहीं हो सकते उसी तरह धरती पर भी दो बादशाह नहीं हो सकते।
• बड़ा करने की सोचें तभी बड़ा पा सकोगे।
• हर किसी का आचरण उसके भाग्य पर निर्भर करता है।
• मैं अपनी जीत के लिए कभी भी धोखा नहीं करता हूँ।
• जो कोशिश करते हैं वे हर चीज पा लेते हैं।
• मैं शेरों की उस सेना से नहीं डरता जिनका लीडर एक भेड़िया है, बल्कि में भेड़ियों की उस सेना से डरता हूं जिनका लीडर एक शेर है।
• जिसके लिए पूरा विश्व भी कम पड़ गया उसके लिए आज एक कब्र ही काफी है।
• मैं जीत के लिए चोरी नहीं करता हूं।

2 Love Alexander the Great Quotes

Check these beautiful quotes on love by Alexander the Great:

• True love never has a happy ending, because there is no ending to true love.
• Whatever possession we gain by our sword cannot be sure or lasting, but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.

5 Motivational Alexander the Great Quotes

Here are some motivational quotes by Alexander the Great to keep you driven toward your goals:

• 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.
• For my own part, I would rather excel in knowledge of the highest secrets of philosophy than in arms.
• Glory crowns the deeds of those who expose themselves to toils and dangers.
• 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.

6 Alexander the Great Quotes on Success

Check out these profound quotes on success by Alexander the Great:

• The end and object of conquest are to avoid doing the same thing as the conquered.
• To the strongest!
• Toil and risk are the prices of glory, but it is a lovely thing to live with courage and die leaving everlasting fame.
• 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?
• There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
• There are no more worlds to conquer!

5 Death Alexander the Great Quotes

Here are some quotes on death by Alexander the Great:

• 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.
• 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 hollow waste, a futile exercise, for no one at death can take anything with them!
• 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 nobler to have died the victim of the enemy than fall a sacrifice to the rage of my friends.
• When you bury my body, don’t build any momentum and keep your hands outside so that the world knows that the person who won the whole world had nothing in his hand while dying.

3 Alexander the Great Quotes Fear

Check these Alexander the Great quotes on fear that will help you face yours and get through them:

• Each moment free from fear makes a man immortal.
• Let us conduct ourselves so that all men wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies.
• 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.

4 Alexander the Great Quotes on War

Here are a few quotes on war by Alexander the Great depicting the times the mighty king used to conquer worlds:

• 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.
• 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. 
• O Athenians, what toil do I undergo to please you?
• How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens?

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