I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
We both have fed as well, as we can both
Endure the winter’s cold as well as he. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar I ii 97
Ye gods, it doth amaze me.
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
As bear the palm along. ibid. I ii 128
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at such times are masters of their own fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. ibid. I ii 134
When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome,
That her wide walls encompassed but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man. ibid. I ii 153
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. ibid. II ii 30
O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? ibid. III i 148
Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die:
No place will please me so, no mean of death,
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age. ibid. III i 159
O! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers;
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times. ibid. III i 254
But yesterday the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world: now lies he there.
And none so poor to do him reverence. ibid. III ii 124
He hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours, and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tiber; he hath left them you,
And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves. ibid. III ii 252
Here was a Caesar! when comes such another? ibid. III ii 257
Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemned to have an itching palm. ibid. IV iii 7
This was the noblest Roman of them all;
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
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!’ ibid. V v 68
His legs bestrid the ocean; his rear’d arm
Crested the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra V ii 28
The gates of monarchs
Are arch’d so high that giants may jet through
And keep their impious turbans on. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline III iv 4
O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors!
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars and women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII III ii 366
Every noble crown is, and on Earth will forever be, a crown of thorns. Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present III:VIII
Whenever monarchs err, the people are punished. Horace, Epistles
The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth. Samuel Johnson, Life of Milton
Every monarch is subject to a mightier one. Seneca
God himself, with reverence be it spoken, is not an absolute but a limited monarch, limited by the rule which infinite wisdom prescribes to infinite power. Lord Bolingbroke, Patriot King
Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos. Polybius
The First World War toppled the monarchies of Russia, Germany and Austria. Andrew Marr, Diamond Queen, BBC 2012
Forty-odd countries have monarchs depending how you count them. ibid.
Since the war there has been a lowering of public standards and of public morals. But people expect even more of the monarchy. Stanley Baldwin
Monarchy is ritual, boy ... Monarchy is magical. Bertie & Elizabeth 2002 starring James Wilby & Juliet Aubrey & Alan Bates & Eileen Atkins & Dolly Wells & William Mickleburgh & Charles Edwards & Alexandra Staden et al, director Giles Foster, George V at table
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1974 starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Eric Idle & Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones & Michael Palin & Neil Innis & Connie Booth & Carol Cleveland et al, directors Gilliam & Jones, dirt man
Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times; and which have much veneration, but no rest. Francis Bacon, Essay
The king reigns but does not govern. Otto von Bismarck
When kings the sword of justice first lay down,
They are no kings, though they possess the crown.
Titles are shadows, crowns are empty things,
The good of subjects is the end of kings. Daniel Defoe, 1660-1731, The True-Born Englishman, 1701
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substanting things;
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade. James Shirley, The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses, 1659
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
However strong your armies may be, you will always need the favour of the inhabitants to the possession of a province. ibid. chIII
And here we must observe that men must either be flattered or crushed; for they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, whilst for grave ones they cannot. The injury therefore that you do to a man should be such that you need not fear his revenge. ibid.
And so it is with State affairs. For the distempers of a State being discovered while yet inchoate, which can only be done by a sagacious ruler, may easily be dealt with; but when, from not being observed, they are suffered to grow until they are obvious to everyone, there is no longer any remedy. ibid.
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer. ibid.
A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent. ibid. chVI
For, besides what has been said, it should be borne in mind that the temper of the multitude is fickle, and that while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion. Wherefore, matters should be so ordered that when men no longer believe of their own accord, they may be compelled to believe by force. ibid.
And let it be noted that there is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to set up as a leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new. This lukewarm temper arises partly from the fear of adversaries who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who will never admit the merit of anything new, until they have seen it proved by the event. ibid.
Those cruelties we may say are well employed, if it be permitted to speak well of things evil, which are done once for all under the necessity of self-preservation, and are not afterwards persisted in, but so far as possible modified to the advantage of the governed. Ill-employed cruelties, on the other hand, are those which from small beginnings increase rather than diminish with time. They who follow the first of these methods, may, by the grace of God and man, find, as did Agathocles, that their condition is not desperate; but by no possibility can the others maintain themselves. ibid.
It is essential therefore for a prince to have learnt how to be other than good and to use, or not to use, his goodness as necessity requires. ibid. chXV