Let us conduct ourselves in such a fashion that all nations wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies.

The saying encapsulates an ideal of statecraft that fuses attraction and deterrence: a polity should behave so honorably, reliably, and powerfully that others prefer alliance while hesitating to oppose it. It implies that reputation is a strategic asset—earned through conduct, not merely proclaimed—and that the most stable security comes when friendship is desirable and enmity is costly. Though often attributed to Alexander, the sentiment reads like a later, generalized maxim about imperial diplomacy and “soft” and “hard” power combined, rather than a remark anchored in a specific episode of his campaigns.