Alexander (film)

"It was said later that Alexander was never defeated, except by Hephaistion's thighs."

"All men reach and fall..."

"Alexander once said to me that we are most alone when we are with the myths."

"He was a god, Cadmus, or as close as anything I've ever seen. Tyrant, they yell so easily. I laugh; no tyrant ever gave back so much. What do they know of the world, these school boys? It takes strong men to rule. Alexander was more; he was Prometheus, a friend to man. He changed the world."

"Before him there were tribes, after him all was possible. There was suddenly a sense the world could be ruled by one king and be better for all. Eighteen great Alexandrias he built across this world."

"It was an empire, not of land and gold, but of the mind. It was a Hellenic civilization, open to all."

"Did such a man as Alexander exist? Of course not! We idolize him; make him better than he was."

"It was mad; 40,000 of us against 250,000 barbarians!"

"In Egypt and oracle in the desert had declared Alexander the true son of Zeus. It was a myth, of course. At least it started as a myth. I was there; I saw his eyes."

"(when asked if he has found his home) More and more I think it will be Alexandria."

"I never believed in his dream. None of us did. That’s the truth of his life. The dreamers exhaust us. They must die before they kill us with their blasted dreams."

"The truth is we did kill him... By silence we consented. What, by Ares, did we have to look forward to but to be discarded in the end, like Cleitus?"

"By the tenth of June, a month short of his 33rd year, Alexander's great heart finally gave up, and, as he vowed, he joined Hephaistion."

"But in his short life he achieved without doubt, the mythic glory of his ancestor Achilles, and more."

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

"(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."

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

"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?"

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

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

"In my womb I carried my avenger!"

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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