Gaius Iulius Caesar (Classical Latin: GAIVS IVLIVS CÆSAR) (12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman religious, military, and political leader. He played an important part in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, with the first Roman invasion of Britainia in 55 BC. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, as well as a brilliant politician and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders.
Here are 13 real Julius Caesar quotes ordered by their popularity online. The most quoted quotes on the web appear first. Questionable and fake quotes are excluded. Sources and related information are shown after each quote. We hope you find these quotes useful. If there is anything we can do to improve this article, your feedback is welcome. If you find these quotes helpful, please share them.
1. “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: All Gaul is divided into three parts
• De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1; these are the first words of De Bello Gallico, the whole sentence is "All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third."
2. “Alea iacta est.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: The die is cast.
• As quoted in Vita Divi Iuli [The Life of the deified Julius] (121 CE) by Suetonius, paragraph 33 (Caesar: … "Iacta alea est", inquit. – Caesar said … "the die is cast".)
• Said when crossing the river Rubicon with his legions on 10 January, 49 BC, thus beginning the civil war with the forces of Pompey. The Rubicon river was the boundary of Gaul, the province Caesar had the authority to keep his army in. By crossing the river, he had committed an invasion of Italy.
• The Latin is a translation; Caesar actually spoke this in Greek, as reported by Plutarch,Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 60.2.9:
Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ἐκβοήσας, «Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος», [anerriphtho kybos] διεβίβαζε τὸν στρατόν.
He [Caesar] declared in Greek with loud voice to those who were present ‘Let the die be cast’ and led the army across.
He was reportedly quoting the playwright Menander, specifically “Ἀρρηφόρῳ” (Arrephoria, or “The Flute-Girl”), according to Deipnosophistae, Book 13, paragraph 8, saying «Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος» (anerriphtho kybos). The Greek translates rather as “let the die be cast!”, or “Let the game be ventured!”, which would instead translate in Latin as Jacta Alea Est. According to Lewis and Short (Online Dictionary: alea, Lewis and Short at the Perseus Project. See bottom of section I.), the phrase used was a future active imperative, “let the die be cast!”, or “Let the game be ventured!”, which would instead translate in Latin as iacta alea est.
3. “Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source: Attributed to Caesar by others His declaration as to why he had divorced his wife Pompeia, when questioned in the trial against Publius Clodius Pulcher for sacrilege against Bona Dea festivities (from which men were excluded), in entering Caesar's home disguised as a lute-girl apparently with intentions of a seducing Caesar's wife; as reported in Parallel Lives by Plutarch, p. 467
4. “Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest/ strongest .
• De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1; Caesar suffered his greatest military defeat at the hands of the Belgae, the humiliation reaching Rome, and infuriating the man who then set out on one of Rome's biggest campaigns to crush the Republic's most feared rebels once and for all.
5. “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: Men willingly believe what they wish.
• De Bello Gallico, Book III, Ch. 18, as translated in Great Thoughts from Classic Authors (1891) by Craufurd Tait Ramage, p. 442
• Variant translations:
• Men willingly believe what they wish to be true.
• As quoted in The Adventurer No. 69 (3 July 1753) in The Works of Samuel Johnson (1837) edited by Arthur Murphy, p. 32
• Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.
• Nearly always people believe willingly that which they wish.
6. “Veni, vidi, vici.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: I came, I saw, I conquered.
• Written in a report to Rome 47 B.C. after conquering Pharnaces at Zela in Asia Minor in just five days. Quoted in Plutarch, Life of Caesar, and Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Julius
• It is also believed that Caesar included the famous three words : Came, Saw, Conquered, in a letter to his friend Amantius in Rome.
7. “Consuesse enim deos immortales, quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant, quos pro scelere eorum ulcisci velint, his secundiores interdum res et diuturniorem impunitatem concedere.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: The immortal gods are wont to allow those persons whom they wish to punish for their guilt sometimes a greater prosperity and longer impunity, in order that they may suffer the more severely from a reverse of circumstances.
• De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 14, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn.
8. “Sunt item, quae appellantur alces. Harum est consimilis capris figura et varietas pellium, sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt mutilaeque sunt cornibus et crura sine nodis articulisque habent neque quietis causa procumbunt neque, si quo adflictae casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus: ad eas se applicant atque ita paulum modo reclinatae quietem capiunt. Quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consuerint, omnes eo loco aut ab radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores, tantum ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur. Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverunt, infirmas arbores pondere adfligunt atque una ipsae concidunt.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: There are also animals which are called elks [alces "moose" in Am. Engl.; elk "wapiti"]. The shape of these, and the varied colour of their skins, is much like roes, but in size they surpass them a little and are destitute of horns, and have legs without joints and ligatures; nor do they lie down for the purpose of rest, nor, if they have been thrown down by any accident, can they raise or lift themselves up. Trees serve as beds to them; they lean themselves against them, and thus reclining only slightly, they take their rest; when the huntsmen have discovered from the footsteps of these animals whither they are accustomed to betake themselves, they either undermine all the trees at the roots, or cut into them so far that the upper part of the trees may appear to be left standing. When they have leant upon them, according to their habit, they knock down by their weight the unsupported trees, and fall down themselves along with them.
• De Bello Gallico, Book VI
9. “Sed fortuna, quae plurimum potest cum in reliquis rebus tum praecipue in bello, parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit; ut tum accidit.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.
• The Civil War, Book III, 68
10. “I assure you I had rather be the first man here than the second man in Rome.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source: Attributed to Caesar by others On passing through a village in the Alps, as attributed by Plutarch. The quote is presented as traditional, and the attribution to Caesar is presumably apocryphal, as quoted in p. 372 Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities (1892) by William Shepard Walsh
11. “Galia est pacata.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: Gaul is subdued.
• Written in a letter with which Caesar informed the Roman Senate of his victory over Vercingetorix in 52 BC
12. “It is not the well-fed long-haired man I fear, but the pale and the hungry looking.”
—Julius Caesar
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Source: Attributed to Caesar by others Found in Plutarch's Anthony. Famously Cassius was noted in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as having "a lean and hungry look."
13. “Καὶ σύ, τέκνον;”
—Julius Caesar
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Source and Related Info: Attributed to Caesar by others The phrase means "You too, child?" or "You too, young man?"
• Reported as Caesar's last words, spoken to Marcus Junius Brutus, as recorded in Divus Iulius by Suetonius, paragraph 82; this gave rise to William Shakespeare's famous adaptation in Julius Caesar: "Et tu, Brute? — Then fall, Caesar!"
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