Alexander of Macedon - Peter Green

"Pothos ... a 'longing for things not yet within reach, for the unknown, far distant, unattained'"

"A man whose one overriding belief is in his own destiny will not be doctrinaire in other matters. All else must be subservient to that one glittering goal."

"All absolute autocrats end in spiritual isolation, creating their own world, their private version of the truth: to this depressing rule Alexander was no exception"

"the king regarded conquest and exploration as an end in themselves, the natural condition of man"

"He had perhaps the most extraordinary and talented team of subordinates in all of history"

"Once again Alexander was seized by the spirit of emulation: ever strive to be the best"

"Alexander's true genius was as a field-commander ... His gift for speed, improvisation, variety of strategy; his cool-headedness in a crisis, his ability to extract himself from the most impossible situations; his mastery of terrain, his psychological ability to penetrate the enemy's intentions -- all these qualities place him at the very head of the Great Capitains of history."

"He personifies an archetypal element, restless and perennial, in human nature: the myth of the eternal quest for the world's end, memorably summed up by Tennyson in the last line of Ulysses: 'To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'"