Conqueror Quotes

“When you’re older, you will realise the only thing that matters, the only thing, is that you had courage and honour. Lose those things and you won’t die any quicker, but you’ll be less than the dirt on our boots. You’ll still be dust, but you’ll have wasted your short time in the light.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“No worthy goal should come easily, he told himself. Suffering created value.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“It's all you can say, when the end comes: 'I did not waste my time.' I think that matters. I think it may be all that matters.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“We are all fools with our sons. We wipe them and suckle them and all we expect is for them to be grateful to the end of their days.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“There is a price for all things, my son, for all men. I have merely to find his.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“You do not placate a tiger by feeding it your own flesh.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“-Dentro de cem anos ninguém que você conhece estará vivo. Então o que vai importar se lutamos ou simplesmente passamos os dias dormindo ao sol?

Zhenjin piscou para ele, incapaz de entender o humor estranho do pai.

-Se não importa, então por que vamos lutar contra seu irmão?

-Talvez eu não tenha dito direito. Quero dizer que não importa se mudamos o mundo. O mundo vai em frente, e novas vidas chegam e partem. O próprio Gêngis disse que seria esquecido, e, acredite, ele deixou uma sombra longa. O modo como vivemos importa, Zhenjin! Importa que usemos o que recebemos, durante apenas o breve tempo que temos ao sol. - Ele sorriu ao ver o filho lutando com a ideia. -É só isso o que se pode alegar, quando o fim chegar: "Não desperdicei meu tempo." Acho que isso importa. Acho que talvez só isso importe.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“You have a powerful army, Kublai, but the best force is one you do not have to use.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“The world cannot be full of lead dogs, or the pack would pull itself apart.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“No worthy goal can be achieved easily. A virtue is born in suffering.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“My word is iron," Kublai said to the guards, as Meng Guang was led away. "Your people will come to know this, in time.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Predators did not need mercy.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“I will finish what I have begun. I have said it. This is my khanate.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“This is my empire, Uriang-Khadai. I will not be made to leave. Ready the tumans for battle, Orlok. I will face my enemies and I will destroy them.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“There are no rules in life. Whether it is written down, or spoken by shamans, nothing binds a man beyond himself. Nothing, save the chains he accepts for himself. Laws and traditions mean nothing, if you have the strength.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“You have a mighty army, but the greatest force is the one that you don't have to use.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Hawks and eagles don't fly together. They are of totally different kind.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“I rode with Genghis when I was younger than you, barely able to stay on a saddle.”
“What was he like?” Zhenjin asked.
Kublai opened his eyes to find his son watching him.
“He was a man who loved his children and his people, Zhenjin. He took the Chin foot off the throat of the nation and made us look up from the struggles of tribes. He changed the world.”
Zhenjin looked down, playing with a cherry twig in his hands, bending it this way and that.
“I would like to change the world,” he said.
Kublai smiled, with just an edge of sadness in his eyes.
“You will, my son, you will. But no one can change it forever.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“A death is never good. It's never pleasant. We can only ignore it, until our time comes.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“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”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror: A Novel of Kublai Khan

“Enjoy the peaceful moments, Zhenjin. When the fighting starts, this will be a pleasant memory.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Anyone can change the world. But no one can change it forever. In a hundred years, no one you know will be alive. What will it matter then if we fought or just spent our days sleeping in the sun?”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“A good decisions are never brought in a state of rage.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Now that we sharpened our teeth, let's use them.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Sung Win smiled to himself, enjoying the tension across his shoulders and the way his pulse beat in his veins. All life involved risk.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Kublai went on as if he had not spoken.
“Before you all, in the lands of my enemies, I declare myself great khan of the nation, of the khanates under my brothers, Hulegu and Arik-Boke, of the Chagatai khanate and all others. I declare myself great khan of the Chin lands and the Sung. I have spoken and my word is iron!”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“Xuan smiled at the thought of men sleeping peacefully next to those they would try to kill in daylight. Only humanity could have conceived such a strange and artificial way to die. Wolves might tear the flesh of deer, but they never slept and dreamed near their quarry.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“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.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“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.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror

“I am not you and all my choices have already been made, good and bad.”
― Conn Iggulden, Conqueror