"What I'm asking is... are we happier, as a human race? Is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology? We shop at home, we surf the Web, and at the same time we feel emptier, lonelier, and more cut off from each other than at any other time in human history..."

"James Woods - US National Security Advisor Michael Kitz"

"William Fichtner - Kent"

"David Morse - Ted Arroway"

"Jena Malone - Young Ellie"

"Tom Skerritt - David Drumlin"

"John Hurt - S.R. Hadden"

"Matthew McConaughey - Palmer Joss"

"All your life, beware of women. They are far more dangerous than men."

"They always let you get but so far... before they take everything away from you."

"Man, You William, You too scared man...."

"I'll take poor assumptions for $800, Alex"

"[Jamal opens the letter] Dear Jamal, Someone I once knew wrote that we walk away from our dreams afraid that we may fail or worse yet, afraid we may succeed. You need to know that while I knew so very early that you would realize your dreams, I never imagined I would once again realize my own. Seasons change young man, and while I may have waited until the winter of my life, to see the things I've seen this past year, there is no doubt I would have waited too long, had it not been for you."

"Yes! YES! You're the man now, dog!"

"Punch the keys, for God's sake!"

"Why is it that the words that we write for ourselves are always so much better than the words we write for others?"

"Bolt the door, if you're coming in."

"My name is...William Forrester. [put on glasses] Excuse me. [drinking a water; pointing to a 'writers's wall of fame picture] I'm that one."

"No thinking — that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is... to write, not to think!"

"The key to a woman's heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time."

"[to Jamal] What you write in this apartment stays in this apartment. No exceptions."

"I can only warn you, not teach you. Beware of what you dream for; the gods have a way of punishing such pride."

"The east has a way of swallowing men and their dreams."

"When men lie together in lust, it is a surrender to the passions and does nothing for the excellence in us. Nor does any other excess, Cassander, jealousy among them. But when men lie together, and knowledge and virtue are passed between them, that is pure and excellent. When they compete to bring out the good, the best in each other, this is the love between men that can build a city-state and lift us from our frog pond."

"If only these frogs could look outward from their favoured position in the centre, Greece could rule the world."

"Excess in all things is the undoing of men!"

"Although an inferior race the Persians control at least four fifths of the known world. They rule and we sit around like frogs!"

"To love excellence is truly to love the gods."

"My Alexander... I remember the young man who wanted to be Achilles, and then out did him."

"You're mortal. And they know it. And they forgive you because you make them proud of themselves."

"Sometimes, to always expect the best of everyone is arrogance."

"The generals question your obsession with Darius... they say it was never meant for you to be King of Asia."

"You're everything I care for and by the sweet breath of Aphrodite I'm so jealous of losing you to this world you want so badly."

"Remember the fates of the heroes. They suffered greatly."

"I found it in Egypt. The man who sold it to me said it came from a time when man worshipped sun and stars. I'll always think of you as the sun, Alexander and I pray your dream will shine on all men. I wish you a son."

"You strike me still, Alexander. You have eyes like no other. Ah, I sound as stupid as a schoolboy..."

"Look at you! Look at you! You are everything he (Philip) was not. He was coarse, you are refined. He was general, you are a king. He could not rule himself...and you, shall rule the world."

"Their skin is water. And their tongue is fire. She is your friend."

"Alexander, the world is yours. Take it!"

"You will be nineteen this summer and the girls already say you don't like them, you like Hephaistion more. I understand it is natural for a young man."

"In my womb I carried my avenger!"

"(Of Philip) He calls me a barbarian! He makes a mockery of Dionysus every night."

"All you desire! The world is yours! Take it..."

"I lost many a man. Young ones, never been with a woman. Some died of disease. Some were butchered in Scythia by the banks of the Oxus. Some died good. Some just didn’t get no luck. But they died. Forty thousand I come over with eight years ago. And we march after you more than 10,000 miles. In the rain and in the sun, we fought for you. Some of us 50 battles we’ve been in. And we killed many a barbarian. And now, when I look around, how many of them faces do I see?"

"My king, I'm a fightin' man. I like no belly-aching, I won't tolerate it in any of my units."

"(final words of the film) His tragedy was one of increasing loneliness and impatience with those who could not understand. And if his desire to unite Greek and barbarian ended in failure... what failure! His failure towered over other men's successes. I've lived... I've lived a long life, Cadmos. But the glory and the memory of man will always belong to the ones who follow their great visions. And the greatest of these is the one they now... call "Megas Alexandros" - the greatest Alexander of them all."

"Within hours, we were fighting like jackals for his corpse."