Quotes without citations to published works can be suggested on the "Unsourced" section of theDiscussion page
O people, know that you have committed greatsins, and that the great ones among you have committed these sins. If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is becauseI am thepunishment ofGod. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.
As quoted inTarikh-i Jahangushay [History of the World Conqueror] by 'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini (ca. 1252-1260), translated by J.A. Boyle (1958), p. 105
Be of one mind and one faith, that you may conquer your enemies and lead long and happy lives.
As quoted inThe Mongol Empire : Its Rise and Legacy (1940) by Michael Prawdin, p. 224
In the space of seven years I have succeeded in accomplishing a great work and uniting the whole world in oneEmpire.
As quoted inThe Tyrants : 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption (2006) by Clive Foss, p. 55ISBN 1905204965
If one must drink, then let one drink thrice a month, for more is bad. If one gets drunk twice a month, it is better; if one gets drunk once a month, that is better still; and if one doesn't drink at all, that is the best of all.
As given in Rashid al-Din'sCompendium of Chronicles (Jami' al-Tawarikh) ([1]) (Can find a translated version on google books:[2])
My children, I am nearing the end of my life.
With the help of Tengri, I leave you such an empire that it is a year's walking distance from its center to its tip. If you want to preserve it, stay united, act together against your enemies, agree to increase the wealth of those who are loyal to you. One of you must sit on the throne. Ögedei will be my successor. Respect this choice after my death.
Our sons and grandchildren will wear silk clothes, eat delicious and fatty food, ride excellent war horses, hold the most beautiful women and the most charming young girls in their arms, and they will not remember that all of this happened thanks to us.
Attributed by Mohammad Habib and Khaliq Ahmad Nizami (ed.), A Comprehensive History of India, New Delhi, 1970, Volume V, The Sultanat, First Reprint, 1982.
Habib, Nizami, p. 81 gives no source for its anecdote, nor does it offer any specificity regarding the nature of this line put in quotes. Anecdote is placed in Samarkand, although other sources link it (Without quote) to Bukhara.
The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms.
As quoted inGenghis Khan & the Mongols (1973) by Michael Gibson, p. 3; this has been disputed with the statement that it was "not recorded until a century after his death and is surprisingly out of character."
[What, in all the world, could bring the greatest happiness?]
"The open steppe, a clear day, and a swift horse under you," responded the officer after a little thought, "and a falcon on your wrist to start up hares."
"Nay," responded the Khan, "to crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to take their horses and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best."
As quoted inGenghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men (1927) by Harold Lamb, Doubleday, p. 107.
Variant translation: The real greatest pleasure of men is to repress rebels and defeat enemies, to exterminate them and grab everything they have; to see their married women crying, to ride on their steeds with smooth backs, to treat their beautiful queens and concubines as pajamas and pillows, to stare and kiss their rose-colored faces and to suck their sweet lips of nipple-colored.
Genghis Khan is infamous as a merciless and bloodthirstyconqueror - outsideMongolia, where he is a national hero. One of the greatest organizers inhistory, he forged mutually hostile and disunited tribes into a Mongolian nation that extended its power over an unprecedentedly vast Empire. He patronized learning and founded dynasties that dominatedAsia,Eastern Europe, and theNear East for centuries after his death. Although he slaughtered huge numbers of his enemies, he broughtpeace to lands he ruled andprosperity to his homeland.
Clive Foss,The Tyrants: 2,500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption (2006), p. 56
The one name whichMuslims hate and fear most is that of Chengiz Khan. He is a spectre which has haunted Muslim historians for centuries. He swept like atornado over the then most powerful and extensive Islamic empire ofKhwarazm. In a short span of five years (1219-1224 CE), he slaughtered millions of Muslims, forced many others includingwomen andchildren intoslavery, and razed to the ground quite a few of the most populous and prosperous cities of the Muslim world at that time. [...] The logic which declares Tengiri to be asatan and denouncesChengiz Khan as an archcriminal but which, in the same breath, proclaimsAllah as divine and hails theGhaznavis,Ghuris,Timurs andBaburs as heroes, is, to the say the least, worse than casuistry...
Although time was running out for horse-borne warriors, they remained formidable in the right circumstances. In the thirteenth centuryGenghis Khan welded quarrelling Mongol tribes together into a highly centralised state which proved, for a time, to be an unstoppable military force, sweeping away regimes inChina andPersia. Mongol warriors were highly mobile and, when they were challenged by forces from more settledempires, withdrew into the vast spaces ofCentral Asia. One of the secrets of their success may have been another simple piece oftechnology like thestirrup. Mongol warriors wore silk undershirts, so that if they were hit by an arrow the silk wrapped around its head. It was not only easier to get the arrow out; the risk of infection, until the modern age a greater killer of soldiers than death in battle, was much less. Under Genghis’s successors his warriors stormed westwards through Central Asia andRussia to the shores of theBlack Sea, carrying all before them and leaving a trail of death and ruin. No force could stand against them and by 1241 they were probing intoHungary,Poland and present-dayRomania andAustria. It looked as though much of what was a weak and dividedEurope would become part of their empire – and think what a different history it would have had – when the Mongols suddenly stopped and withdrew in 1242. It may be because word had come that, thousands of miles to the east, the Great Khan had died, but historians have recently speculated that poor weather had turned the ground marshy and ruined the fodder for the Mongol horses.
