Quotes from Conn Iggulden

There are many who say 'I believe this,' but would they hold true to those beliefs if their children were threatened? No. But Genghis would. If you told him you would kill his children, he would tell you to go ahead, but realize that the cost would be infinite, that he would tear down cities and nations and the price would never be paid. He did not lie and his enemies knew it. His word was iron.

A death is never good. It's never pleasant. We can only ignore it, until our time comes.

This story began with a single, starving family, hunted and alone on the plains of Mongolia—and ends with Kublai Khan ruling an empire larger than that of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Over just three generations, that is simply the greatest rags-to-riches tale in human history.

Behold a people shall come from the north, and a great nation. They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and will not show mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses every one put in array, like a man to the battle.

The Assassin fortress in Alamut came under attack by Hulegu's forces around 1256. The head of the Muslim sect that held the fortress of Alamut was, in fact, Ala Ad-Din. I avoided his true name because of the similarity to "Aladdin" and because

Cities make you afraid.

Why do you have sons, if not to grow up and test their boldness? Boldness cannot be laid like bones in the sack. It must be driven and again shown on the light, each time stronger than the last. You're mistaken if you think you can keep it, until you need it. It's like everything else, that gives you strength. If you neglect it, your sack will be empty, when you need it the most.

In the Senate they have as many power as we decide to grant them, do you understand it? If we don't allow them anything, then they have nothing. That which they call ''power'' is made of shadows

The nation of my father is too strong for a man who cannot command even his own body.

They cannot stand alone against us," Temujin said. "We will take them one by one.

the Spartans would want it known how they had died. Of all things, they considered the manner of death mattered as much as the manner of life.

I'm the land and the bones of the hills. I'm winter. When I die, I'll pursue you in the coldest nights.

The horizons were wide enough for them all, he realised now, but the wisdom of age is bitter when those you have failed have gone. He could not bring back the years of his youth and live them with greater understanding.

A man must feel a little bit of fear, even if just to fell pride when he conquers it.

they saw Cade's army swelling into the open like a burst blister.

While the moon rose and fell, lonely tracks through the mountains echoed to the slap of running feet as those lads earned their pay, racing to be first to the gates of Athens.

God giveth and God taketh away. Just be sure you're present when he giveth – and somewhere else when he taketh it all back.

No one escapes his fate, whether brave or coward, not from the moment he is born.' – Homer, The Iliad

You obey orders, because if you do not, you cannot expect the same from your men. You are part of the wolf, not the whole wolf. I would have thought you had learned that when you were a boy, but it is not the case. A wolf cannot have more than one head, General, or it tears itself apart.

He is no fool, Kublai. He understands far better than you realize. The khan's vast armies cannot return to being herdsmen, not anymore. He is riding the tiger now, my son. He dare not climb down.

If he had learned anything from his father's fate, it was to win, no matter how you did it. It was not important if someone else was hurt, or killed. If you won, you would be forgiven anything. You could be taken from a stinking ger and forced through the ranks until a thousand men followed your orders as if they came from the khan himself. Blood and talent. The nation was built on both.

Every man can break, after certain time period. It's only necessary to find the levers that move his soul

Weak people always looked for those to blame

You do not hunt a man who comes looking for you," Temujin reminded him softly.