Alexander (2004)

Christopher Plummer: Aristotle

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Quotes 

• Cassander : Would you say the love between Achilles and Patroclus is a corrupting one?

  Aristotle : When men lie together in lust, it is a surrender to the passions and does nothing for the excellence in us. Nor does any other excess, Cassander, jealousy among them.But when men lie together, and knowledge and virtue are passed between them that is pure and excellent. When they compete to bring out the good, the best in each other this is the love between men that can build a city-state and lift us from our frog pond.

• Young Nearchus : Master? Master?

  Aristotle : Yes?

  Young Nearchus : Master?

  Aristotle : Yes, out with it, out with it.

  Young Nearchus : Why are the Persians so cruel?

  Aristotle : That is not the subject for today Nearchus. But it is true, the Oriental races are known for their barbarity and slavish devotion to their senses. Excess in all things is the undoing of men. That is why we Greeks are superior, we practice control of our senses. Moderation.

  [laughs] 

  Aristotle : We hope.

• Aristotle : I can only hope that you continue what you began as the boy I knew at twelve. Be that man always, Alexander, and you will not slip. And perhaps you will prove this old materialist, as you always thought me, a dreamer after all.

• Aristotle : I can only warn you, not teach you. Beware of what you dream for.The gods have a way of punishing such pride.

• Aristotle : Although an inferior race, the Persians control at least four fifths of the known world. But, is it possible that the source of Egypt's mighty river Nile could rise in these distant mountains of the outer Earth? If so, an experienced navigator could find his way here, by this river, east, down into the great plains of India, out into the eastern ocean and end of the world, and by this route, up the Nile, back to Egypt, into the Middle Sea and home to Greece.

• Young Alexander : It is, it has always been, our Greek dream to go east. My father long wants it.

  Aristotle : The east has a way of swallowing men and their dreams.

• Young Hephaistion : Can a man love a woman equally, Master?

  Aristotle : A woman? Of course not. A woman is a slave to her passions, Hephaistion. Though, naturally, there are exceptions, and we must honor them. Such as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war. But never forget, she was sprung not from the loins of Zeus, but from his mind.

• Aristotle : The East has a way of swallowing men and their dreams, but still to think it's these myths that lead us toward the greatest glory... Why is it wrong to act on them? I can only warn you, not teach you. Beware of what you dream - for the gods have a way of punishing such pride.

• Aristotle : To love excellence is truly to love the gods