“One arrow alone can be easily broken but many arrows are indestructible.”

Those who were adept and brave fellows I have made military commanders. Those who were quick and nimble I have made herders of horses. Those who were not adept I have given a small whip and sent to be shepherds.

The merit in action lies in finishing it to the end.

Come and sip from the cup of destruction.

Remember, you have no companions but your shadow.

I am the punishment of God, If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.

Be of one mind and one faith, that you may conquer your enemies and lead long and happy lives.

It is not sufficient that I succeed – all others must fail.

Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.

In the space of seven years I have succeeded in accomplishing a great work and uniting the whole world in one Empire.

Despite all expectations, the time of my last campaign and of my passing is near. I wish to die at home. Let not my end disarm you, and on no account weep for me, lest the enemy be warned of my death.

There is no good in anything until it is finished.

Man’s greatest joy is to slay his enemy, plunder his riches, ride his steeds, see the tears of his loved ones and embrace his women.

Just as God gave different fingers to the hand so has He given different ways to men.

A leader can never be happy until his people are happy.

If you’re afraid – don’t do it, – if you’re doing it – don’t be afraid!

With Heaven’s aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world. That task is left for you.

People talk about love like it is patient and kind. Love is also dark. It is ferocious and angry and destructive.

We can never know, for the good reason that writing is the destruction of every voice, every origin. Writing is that neuter, that composite, that obliquity into which our subject flees, the black-and-white where all identity is lost, beginning with the very identity of the body that writes.

Suicide is not an answer, it’s destruction.

Love is a flame that burns everything other than itself. It is the destruction of all that is false and the fulfillment of all that is true.

For me, love carries the seeds of its own destruction.

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.

These scars bear witness but whether to repair or to destruction I no longer know.

Nature allows Destruction nor collapse of aught, until Some outward force may shatter by a blow, Or inward craft, entering its hollow cells, Dissolve it down.