Book of Quotes

Julius Caesar

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

- "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

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

- "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."

- "Et tu, Brute?"

- "Cry havor and let slip the dogs of war!"

- "Beware the Ides of March"

- "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, So let it be with Caesar . . . The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it . . . Here, under leave of Brututs and the rest, (For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all; all honourable men) Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral . . . He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious: And Brutus is an honourable man . . . He hath brought many capptives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love hime once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason . . . Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me"

- "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the floud, leads on to fortune ommitted, all the voyage of their lives are bound in shallows and in miseries"

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

- "On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures."

- "There are no tricks in plain and simple faith."

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

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

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

- "But I am constant as the Northern Star, of whose true fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament."

"Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible."

- "Let me have men about me that are fat . . . Young Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."

- "And since you know you cannot see yourself, so well as by reflection, I, your glass, will modestly discover to yourself, that of yourself which you yet know not of."

- "And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge, With ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war, That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial"

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

- "Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt."

- "The Ides of March are come. Ay, Caesar; but not gone."

- "And it is very much lamented . . . That you have no such mirrors as will turn Your hidden worthiness into your eye. That you might see you shadow."

- "As he was valiant, I honor him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him."

- "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!"

- "This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, Which gives men stomach to digest his words with better appetite."

- "I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing and the first motion, all the interim is like a phantasma, or a hideous dream: the Genius and the mortal instruments are then in council; and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then the nature of an insurrection."

- "He read much; He is a great observer and he looks Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music; Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit That could be moved to smile at any thing. Such men as he be never at heart's ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, And therefore are they very dangerous."

- "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!"

- "I was born free as Caesar; so were you"

- "No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things."

- "And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, millions of mischiefs."

- "Danger knows full well that Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions litter'd in one day, and I the elder and more terrible."

- "But, for my own part, it was Greek to me."

- "But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves."

- "But yesterday the word of Caesar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there. And none so poor to do him reverence. O masters, if I were disposed to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honourable men: I will not do them wrong; I rather choose To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, Than I will wrong such honourable men. But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar; I found it in his closet, 'tis his will: Let but the commons hear this testament -- Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read -- And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds and dip their napkins in his sacred blook, Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, and, dying, mention it withing their wills, Bequeathing it as a rich legacy unto their issue."

- "Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me?"

- "What a terrible era in which idiots govern the blind."

- "I could be well moved, if I were as you; If I could pray to move, prayers would move me: But I am constant as the Northern Star, of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament."

- "And Caesar shall go forth."

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