Alexander the Great (1956)
Richard Burton: Alexander
Photos
Quotes
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Alexander : [Opening credits with anonymous voice-over:] It is men who endure toil and dare dangers that achieve glorious deeds. And it is a lovely thing to live with courage and to die leaving behind an everlasting renown.
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Philip of Macedonia : Alexander. In your first act as regent, send your mother away.
Alexander : Exile my mother?
Philip of Macedonia : Back to her kinsman in Epirus, she'll be happy there.
Alexander : Is that the cost of my prove to you?
Philip of Macedonia : How do you think I came to power? My own two brothers...
Alexander : I know, you slew them, you want me to do that too?
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Philip of Macedonia : Alexander, you have my temper.
Alexander : I know.
Philip of Macedonia : And my ambition, more I think. Alexandroplis? At least wait until I die first. HAHAHAHA!
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Aristotle : Do you know how vast the Persian Empire is?
Alexander : From the Nile, to the Indus... from Samarkand, to Babylon.
Aristotle : And beyond. Do you know how many different people live there?
Alexander : By heart. Carians, Armenians, Jews, Parthians, Egyptians... I know their customs and their gods.
Aristotle : Yes. But this is more than an empire, this is colossus. To rule it would take a man as great as *you can be*... That is why I say, "Patience".
Alexander : Patience? My time is short.
Aristotle : Short?
Alexander : When the great god Zeus, father of Achilles, gave him his choice of a long life of obscurity and a short life filled with glory, he chose glory. So did I. Achilles died young...
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Alexander : [reading in excitement from Book 20 of the Iliad] "... thus beneath great-hearted Achilles his whole-hooved horses trampled corpses and shields together, and with blood all the axletree below was sprinkled, for blood-drops from the horses' hooves splashed them, and blood-drops from the tires of the wheels, for the son of Peleus pressed on to win glory, flecking with gore his irresistible hands."
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Alexander : What's all this about my father?
Olympias : To the sword, the cross, the rack - men who have been his friends for years. Now everyone is his enemy - he accuses everyone of conspiring against him... even me. You'll hear the story, Alexander - you'll hear it from him. But you mustn't believe him, you mustn't... you don't! Do you, Alexander?
Alexander : Why should he accuse you?
Olympias : He wants to get rid of me... he's been wanting to for years. He wants to marry again.
Alexander : Who?
Olympias : Attalus's niece. You be careful of Attalus - you be careful of all of them. She's no fool - she won't let him throw her away like he's done with all the others. She's young...
Alexander : Oh, Mother...!
Olympias : Whatever he asks of you, do. Whatever he says, agree with. For when you're regent...
[she smiles]
Olympias : *when you're regent*... then, *we'll* rule the land.
Alexander : *We*?
[Olympias's face falls]
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Alexander : Wonders are many, but none is more wonderful than man himself.
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Alexander : Torture makes men scream blasphemies.
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Philip of Macedonia : How do I tear down this wall that stands between us? By breach? Assault? Storm?
Alexander : You built the wall.
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Alexander : For within him, out of the death of Cleitus, a new idea was born, a new understanding, a new driving force that it was not lands that must be conquered, but the hearts of men.
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Alexander : He said My boy, if I surround you with competitors you will have all the more reason to surpass them in merit.
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Alexander : When the great god Zeus, father of Achilles, gave him his choice between a long life of obscurity and a short one filled with glory, he chose glory. So did I.