Top 120 Conn Iggulden Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The suffering of my enemies will be a feast to the spirits. When I am old, I will remember the tears they have shed and it will ease my bones.”

— Conn Iggulden

2. “They cannot stand alone against us,” Temujin said. “We will take them one by one.”

— Conn Iggulden

3. “Only memories stay the same, young lad. Everything else changes.”

— Conn Iggulden

4. “There is no escape from me, not even in death.”

— Conn Iggulden

5. “The Buddha said, ‘Gripped by fear, men go to the sacred mountains and sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines.’ I am not afraid of death, my lady. I need no god to comfort me in my fear.”

— Conn Iggulden

6. “Men respect the silent; they despise the garrulous. – Marius.”

— Conn Iggulden

7. “My word is Iron.”

— Conn Iggulden

8. “To defeat the enemy, we must know him first.”

— Conn Iggulden

9. “No worthy goal can be achieved easily. A virtue is born in suffering.”

— Conn Iggulden

10. “Now that we sharpened our teeth, let’s use them.”

— Conn Iggulden

11. “Sometimes it’s better to just let the wave overcome you and then pick up the shards when it passes.”

— Conn Iggulden

12. “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

13. “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

14. “Hawks and eagles don’t fly together. They are of totally different kind.”

— Conn Iggulden

15. “Three hundred miles is just one step on a journey that I have on my mind.”

— Conn Iggulden

16. “I’m the land and the bones of the hills. I’m winter. When I die, I’ll pursue you in the coldest nights.”

— Conn Iggulden

17. “In this age of video games and cell phones, there must still be a place for knots, tree houses, and stories of incredible courage.”

— Conn Iggulden

18. “The wisdom of age is bitter when those you have failed have gone.”

— Conn Iggulden

19. “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

20. “This is a hard land and the people are used to death. If I am to rule them, they must know that to face me is to be destroyed. They must be afraid, Chakahai. It is the only way.”

— Conn Iggulden

21. “You do not placate a tiger by feeding it your own flesh.”

— Conn Iggulden

22. “The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their horses and take away their possessions, to see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in his arms.”

— Conn Iggulden

23. “If my brother was made to kneel... you will never walk again.”

— Conn Iggulden

24. “We are the silver people, the Mongols. When they ask, tell them there are no tribes. Tell them I am khan of the sea of grass, and they will know me by that name, as Genghis. Yes, tell them that. Tell them that I am Genghis and I will ride.”

— Conn Iggulden

25. “This is no game of thrones, but real endings and real blood.”

— Conn Iggulden

26. “A death is never good. It’s never pleasant. We can only ignore it, until our time comes.”

— Conn Iggulden

27. “I have not given thought to what comes after the battles. Perhaps I will rule. Is that not the right of a conqueror?”

— Conn Iggulden

28. “Enjoy the peaceful moments, Zhenjin. When the fighting starts, this will be a pleasant memory.”

— Conn Iggulden

29. “To be betrayed by those he trusted seems to have ignited a spark of vengeance in Temujin, a desire for power that never left him. His childhood experiences created the man he would become, who would not bend or allow fear or weakness in any form. He cared nothing for possessions or wealth, only that his enemies fall.”

— Conn Iggulden

30. “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

31. “He is afraid of you, so he hates you. It would be wrong to hurt him again. It would be like beating a dog after it has loosed it’s bladder. The spirit is already broken in him.”

— Conn Iggulden

32. “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

33. “To be strong – that’s the first thing the man must learn. If you don’t have strength, others can take you everything you have or make.”

— Conn Iggulden

34. “He was my first sight of a king, and I thought they were a different breed of men, a thread of gold above the rest of us. How I wish that were true.”

— Conn Iggulden

35. “He was the khan of Wolves and he feared no man. They would pay dearly for his skin.”

— Conn Iggulden

36. “Every man, who has fought in a battle, is now ash, every sword has been eaten by rust, but the lessons still must be learned.”

— Conn Iggulden

37. “You cannot deceive the mirror.”

— Conn Iggulden

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

— Conn Iggulden

39. “All men die,” Jelme went on, ignoring the outburst. “It could be tonight, next year, or in forty years, when you are toothless and weak. All you can do is choose how you stand when it comes.”

— Conn Iggulden

40. “He had a vision of a nation. The incredible martial skills of the Mongol tribes had always been wasted against each other. From nothing, surrounded by enemies, Temujin rose to unite them all. What came next would shake the world.”

— Conn Iggulden

41. “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

42. “A man must feel a little bit of fear, even if just to fell pride when he conquers it.”

— Conn Iggulden

43. “Temujin snorted. “Never lose faith in me, little brother. My word is iron and I will always come home.”

— Conn Iggulden

44. “No man could be a khan to his mother.”

— Conn Iggulden

45. “This story began with a single, starving family, hunted and alone on the plains of Mongolia – and ends with Kublai Khan ruling an empire larger than that of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Over just three generations, that is simply the greatest rags-to-riches tale in human history.”

— Conn Iggulden

46. “They are the great tribe,” Temujin replied, almost to himself. His voice was so quiet that Kachiun had to strain to hear. “I will give them a family again. I will bring them in and I will make them hard and I will send them against those who killed our father. I will write the name of Yesugei in Tartar blood and, when we are strong, I will come back from the north and scatter the Wolves in the snow.”

— Conn Iggulden

47. “It is done. We are a nation and we will ride. Tonight, let no man think of his tribe and mourn. We are a greater family and all lands are ours to take.”

— Conn Iggulden

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

— Conn Iggulden

49. “My son’s name is Temujin,” he said. “He will be iron.”

— Conn Iggulden

50. “It is the quality of the burden you must consider, Brutus, not the weight.”

— Conn Iggulden