The collection / 37 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

He would never understand women, he thought. They were life’s great mystery.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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02Undated

For the khan, we will take their cities, their women, and their lands. This is the great raid, the farthest strike in the history of the nation of Genghis. We will not be stopped.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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03Undated

History was more than just stories, he reminded himself as the men walked forward with their burdens. It taught lessons as well.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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04Undated

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 / quote

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05Undated

Those who cannot conquer must bend the knee. They must find strength, or serve those of us who have. You are my generals. I will send you out: my hunting dogs, my wolves with iron teeth. When a city closes its gates in fear, you will destroy it. When they make roads and walls, you will cut them, pull down the stones. When a man raises a sword or bow against your men, you will hang him from a tree. Keep Karakorum in your minds as you go. This white city is the heart of the nation, but you are the right arm, the burning brand. Find me new lands, gentlemen. Cut a new path. Let their women weep a sea of tears and I will drink it all.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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06Undated

They had learned that Sorhatani expected the same sort of instant obedience as her husband. She had grown up around men of power and had married into the great khan’s family at a very young age. She knew that men prefer to follow, that it takes an effort of will to lead. She had that will.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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07Undated

Sometimes, power could change hands as quickly as a knife thrust.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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08Undated

The world cannot be full of lead dogs, or the pack would pull itself apart.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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09Undated

Get up,” she said. “Get up, my lord. If you do not have long, there is still much to do. You must not waste another day, another morning! Take hold of your life with both hands and crush it to you, my lord. You will not have another in this world.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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10Undated

There is a world outside the one we know,” he said softly, “with cultures and races and armies who have never heard of us. Yes, and cities greater than Yenking and Karakorum. To survive, to grow, we must remain strong. We must conquer new lands, so that our army is always fed, always moving. To stop is to die, Chagatai.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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11Undated

The world has grown too large for one army of the nation, my brother. You will ride where I tell you to ride, conquer where I tell you to conquer. The world is yours, if you can put aside the base part of you that tells you to rule it all. That you may not have. Now give me an answer and your oath. Your word is iron, brother, and I will take it. Or I can just kill you now.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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12Undated

Courage cannot be left like bones in a bag. It must be brought out and shown the light again and again, growing stronger each time. If you think it will keep for the times you need it, you are wrong. It is like any other part of your strength. If you ignore it, the bag will be empty when you need it most.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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13Undated

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 / quote

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14Undated

There is a price for all things, my son, for all men. I have merely to find his.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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15Undated

You obey orders, because if you do not, you cannot expect the same from your men. You are part of the wolf, not the whole wolf. I would have thought you had learned that when you were a boy, but it is not the case. A wolf cannot have more than one head, General, or it tears itself apart.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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16Undated

No worthy goal should come easily, he told himself. Suffering created value.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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17Undated

Be careful in your life, Tolui. I want you fit and strong for when I come for you.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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18Undated

If a man has gold, he lives with the terror that someone will take it away from him, so he builds walls around it. Then everyone knows where the gold is, so they come and take it. That’s the way it always goes, brother. Fools and gold, together.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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19Undated

The nation of my father is too strong for a man who cannot command even his own body.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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20Undated

A man needs to feel a little fear, Tolui, if only to have the pride of conquering it.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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21Undated

A brave man could conquer fear, he had learned that, but perhaps only for a time. It was something the young did not understand, the way it could gnaw at a man, the way it came back stronger every time, until you were alone and gasping for breath.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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22Undated

I am not you and all my choices have already been made, good and bad.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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23Undated

If he had learned anything from his father’s fate, it was to win, no matter how you did it. It was not important if someone else was hurt, or killed. If you won, you would be forgiven anything. You could be taken from a stinking ger and forced through the ranks until a thousand men followed your orders as if they came from the khan himself. Blood and talent. The nation was built on both.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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24Undated

If he had learned anything in manhood, it was that it didn’t matter what other people thought of him—even the ones he respected. In the end, he would patch together a life, with its sorry errors and its triumphs, just as they had.

Conn Iggulden / quote

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