Question regarding an Alexander quote:

[tino]

Hello all,I recall a Alexander quote that when asked the secret of his success Alexander replied 'by not putting off until tomorrow what can be done today' or something similar.Anybody know the location of this passage?Thanks in advance.

[heinrich]

I only know that Oscar Wilde improved this line: "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done the day after tomorrow".HM

[kenny]

hi folksto be honest i cant say Ive ever noticed that quote been attributed to Alexander.If so then thats another little nugget for my collection

[Vasileios]

Fox 68. I gave you this source because I think you'll find it more easily.

[amyntoros]

Fox 68 seems to be some sort of childrens' publication put out by a local TV station, and the quote you have here is on a web page made by high school students in Illinois.http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/Gre ... .html"When asked how he managed to control the Greeks, he would answer, "by putting off nothing that ought to be done today until tomorrow" (qtd. in Fox 68)."Hmm, not exactly a reliable source for information, I'm afraid. You see a lot of this on the web - there are even pages that have nothing but spurious or unattributed Alexander quotes, such as:http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/alex ... uotes.htmA couple are familiar, such as, "How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens", but then theres, "In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity." Hardly Alexander, I would say - and in rhyme no less! I'm not quite sure why anyone would want to make such a page in the first place - why not give quotes that can only be validated by the ancient sources? You'd think that Alexander never actually had anything interesting to say. Ah well...Best regards,Linda Ann

[Adrian Kovacs]

I have read (somewhere) a quote quite similar attributed to Alexander, who might have said to Leonnatos (I believe to remember) concerning his success: "I am just doing what has to be done".
Of course most languages have some proverbs containing some wisdom like this and it seems impossible to reconstruct the original words in a different language after 2300 years.