“To understand Alexander well, it is necessary to follow his heart more closely than his policies, so I investigate the king's character through the mirror of the lives of his lovers.”

“Alexander emerges as an almost Hamlet-like figure, more sinned against than sinning. In a sense Alexander, too, was haunted and motivated by his father’s ghost... He may well have saved more lives than he destroyed and was rarely gratuitous in the use of violence... his legacy is enormous. He was the founder of the Hellenistic Age, which in turn has bequeathed us the foundations of our modern art, science and culture.”

“Alexander was no longer so much the master of his lust, having been fawned upon by Fortune, whom mortal men too little distrust.”

“Alexander's mere name and the fame of his feats raised rulers and realms across virtually the whole world. And those who kept control of even the slightest slice of his huge heritage were reckoned most renowned.”

“Alexander (at the trial of Philotas): How much happier to have fallen in the fighting, felled by a foe, rather than die by a countryman’s blow! Now, preserved from the only perils that I feared, I am beset by threats that should never have appeared.”

“Alexander (grinning): When Darius was scorching the earth, devastating villages and spoiling provisions, it drove me round the bend, but now indeed what have I to fear, when he gives me a battle to contend?”

“Nothing is more disreputable than wasting a reputation where it cannot be flaunted, for fame fades fast in fighting filthy foes.”