“When the Chinese Wall was built, where'd the masons go for lunch? When Caesar conquered Gaul, was there not even a cook in the army? When the Armada sank, King Philip wept. Were there no other tears?”

“Who built the seven towers of Thebes?The books are filled with the names of kings.Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?...In the evening when the Chinese wall was finishedWhere did the masons go?...”

“to Alexander the Great, who wept when there were no more worlds to conquer...”

“When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. (Technically a misquote, but I like the misquote better)”

“We cried and sobbed and wept and bled tears. But when we were finished, all we could do was continue living.”

“Such contentedness and change of view in regard to every kind of life does the infusion of reason bring about. When Alexander heard from Anaxarchus of the infinite number of worlds, he wept, and when his friends asked him what was the matter, he replied, "Is it not a matter for tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, I have not conquered one?”