Daily Archive: December 1, 2021

“Alexander the Great, reflecting on his friends degenerating into sloth and luxury, told them that it was a most slavish thing to luxuriate, and a most royal thing to labor.”

And

“I do not steal victory.”

And

“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!” Aledander addressing his troops prior to Battle of Issus

And

“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?”

And

“To the strongest!” After being asked, by his generals on his deathbed, who was to succeed him.

And

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”

And

“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.”

And

“I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”

And

“Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”

Wikipedia:  Alexander the Great

(more…)