Saladin

"This is a victory opening the gates of men’s hearts."

"I thought of thee, amid the thrusting of their spears, While the straight browned blades quenched their thirst in our blood— ... again and again we were on the verge of destruction; nor would God have delivered us save for some [future] duty."

"This Yemen is a treasure house...We conquered it, but up to this day we have had no return and no advantage from it. There have only been innumerable expenses, the sending out of troops...and expectations which did not produce what was hoped for in the end."

"Children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought up."

"The sacred works [Koran, hadith, etc.] are full of passages referring to the jihad. Saladin was more assiduous and zealous in this than in anything else...Jihad and the suffering involved in it weighed heavily on his heart and his whole being in every limb; he spoke of nothing else, thought only about equipment for the fight, was interested only in those who had taken up arms, had little sympathy with anyone who spoke of anything else or encouraged any other activity."