100+ Powerful Julius Caesar Quotes That Inspire & Captivate

"I do fear the people choose Caesar for their king."

"Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."

"But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament."

"He would be crown'd: How that might change his nature, there's the question."

"Crown him?—that—and then I grant we put a sting in him, That at his will he may do danger with."

"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins Remorse from power."

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Caesar should be a beast without a heart If he should stay at home today for fear."

"Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights."

"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."

"There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, For I am armed so strong in honesty That they pass by me as an idle wind."

"Age, thou art shamed! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!"

"Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!"

"You are my true and honourable wife, As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart."

"Who is here so base that would be a bondman?"

"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

"If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

"There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition."

"I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time."

"O, he sits high in all the people's hearts."

"Good words are better than bad strokes, Trebonius."

"And pity to the general wrong of Rome—as fire drives out fire, so pity pity."

"Would he were fatter! But I fear him not: Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid."

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."

"Beware the Ides of March."

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

"A lioness hath whelped in the streets, And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead."

"These things are beyond all use, and I fear them not."

"Prodigies! You shall confess that you are all confounded: When these prodigies do so concur in one, The gods do mean some notable event."

"It is the bright day that brings forth the adder; And that craves wary walking."

"Peace! Count the clock."

"The morning smells upon 't. Cold, cold, my lord."

"When beggars die, there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."

"I have a man’s mind, but a woman’s might. How hard it is to keep ignorance!"

"Gods, what a thing is this! I never knew so young a man so old a look."

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."

"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."

"The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones."

"He was my friend, faithful and just to me."

"For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men."

"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."

"Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man."

"Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, compact of mine own flesh."

"I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"

"Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?"

"You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?"

"My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me."

"How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn and accents yet unknown!"

"Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night."

"Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius."

"This was the most unkindest cut of all."

"There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."

"Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come."

"The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious."

"He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill."

"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept."

"Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft Have you climb’d up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops."

"Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe."

"What private griefs they have, alas, I know not."

"I love the name of honour more than I fear death."

"As Caesar loved me, I weep for him."

"Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest— For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men— Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral."

"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

"Let me depart alone, And, for my sake, stay here with Antony."

"O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason."

"That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face."

"Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

"There is no fear in him; let him not die."

"For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men’s blood."

"I could be well moved, if I were as you: If I could pray to move, prayers would move me."

"Brutus, thou sleep’st: awake, and see thyself!"

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

"I rather tell thee what is to be feared Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar."

"Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear."

"Death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come."

"I am as constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament."

"I will not dance even if the world demands it."

"I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony."

"There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats."

"Speak, hands, for me!"

"Caesar shall go forth: the things that threaten'd me Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see The face of Caesar, they are vanished."

"Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous than he."

"I spurn thee like a cur out of my way."

"The people ‘rose in fury’ when they saw the wounds of Caesar."

"He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man."

"You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?"

"What private griefs they have, alas, I know not."

"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept."

"Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?"

"I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"

"Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man."

"Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you."

"They that have done this deed are honourable."

"Shall bear me gently to mine enemies’ hands?"

"Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!"

"Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy."

"Blood and destruction shall be so in use And dreadful objects so familiar That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war."

"Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man Most like this dreadful night, That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars As doth the lion in the Capitol."

"O, now begin And dare me to the desert with thy sword."

"There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."

"Good countrymen, let me depart alone, And, for my sake, stay here with Antony."

"Fly, not with them." — "Stand, and give way, villains."

"Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!"

"Peace! Count the clock."

"We shall find of him A shrewd contriver."

"O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!"

"This foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial."

"After this, it will be vain to boast of freedom."

"The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones."

"How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn and accents yet unknown!"

"This was the noblest Roman of them all."

"His life was gentle, and the elements So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world 'This was a man!'"

"Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?"

"Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me."

"O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!"

"Caesar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will."

"This was the most unkindest cut of all."

"The stones of Rome should bow themselves and kiss proud feet."

"He only, in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them."