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Conqueror

Book by Conn Iggulden · 17 quotes · Iron, Khan, Kublai

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Conqueror Quotes

“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.”

“In a hundred years no one you know will be alive. What will it matter if we fight or just spend our days sleeping in the sun?" Zhenjin blinked at him, unable to understand his father's strange mood. "If it doesn't matter, then why are we going to fight your brother?" "Perhaps I haven't said it well. I mean it doesn't matter if we change the world. The world moves on and new lives come and go. Genghis himself said he would be forgotten and, believe me, he left a long shadow. It does matter how we live, Zhenjin! It matters that we use what we are given, for just our brief time in the sun." He smiled to see his son struggling with the idea. "It's all you can say, when the end comes: 'I didn't waste my time.' I think that matters. I think it may be all that matters.”