History Quotes / TheCaligula

-->-- ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''

-->-- ''Disney/TheLionKing''

-->-- ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', about the aptly-named Mad Lord Snapcase

-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/Oversimplfied]]'''

-->-- '''[[Oversimplfiied]]'''

-->-- '''WebAnimation/Oversimplfiied'''

->[[MaximilienRobespierre Max]] we are sending way too many people to the Guillotine

->'''Abraham Reyes''': I have to know. What did you think of Agustin Allende, John?\\
'''John Marston''': I saw enough to know he ain't a good man.\\
'''Reyes''': It is bad enough he beats the people he swore to protect. But it is worse that he enjoys it.\\
'''Marston''': Something must have made him that way.\\
'''Reyes''': Cowardice is what made him that way, my friend. He talks about economic reform, about how this is a new golden age for Mexican people. But look around you! The people are poorer than ever.
-->--On the cruelty of '''Colonel Agustin Allende''', ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

->'''[[BigBad Yzma]]''': It is no concern of mine whether or not your family has... what was it again?
->'''Peasant''': Umm... food?
->'''Yzma''': ''[{{Beat}}]'' HAH! You really should have thought of that before you became ''peasants''! Take him away! NEXT!

->'''Scar:''' I'm the king! I can do whatever I want!
->'''Sarabi:''' If you were half the king [[BerserkButton Mufasa]] was, you'd nev-
->'''Scar:''' ''[smacks her]'' I'M '''''TEN TIMES''''' THE KING MUFASA WAS!
-->--''Disney/TheLionKing''

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

-->-- '''''Caligula''''' (1979)

->'''Oskar Schindler''': They fear us because we have [[ItAmusedMe the power to kill arbitrarily]]... That's what the emperors had. A man stole something, he's brought in before the emperor, he throws himself down on the ground, he begs for mercy, he knows he's going to die. And the emperor pardons him. This worthless man, he lets him go.\\
'''Goeth''': I think you are drunk.\\
'''Schindler''': That's power, Amon. ''That'' is power. ''[genuflects]'' Amon the Good.\\
'''Goeth''': [[IResembleThatRemark I pardon you!]]

[[folder:Theatre]]

->''"I will do such things--what they are yet I know not--but they shall be the terror of the earth."''
-->-- '''''Theatre/KingLear'''''

'''Pelagius the Mad:''' Oh, I couldn't. [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Goes right through me]]. Besides, I have so many things to do. So many undesirables to contend with, naysayers, buffoons, detractors... [[OffWithHisHead Why, my headsman hasn’t slept in three days!]]\\

->''"The second kind [of evil emperor] is the decadent bad guy. He also doesn't tend to have much influence on the inner workings of his empire beyond the occasional gladiatorial arena, mostly because there's likely to be fourteen layers of bureaucracy between him and the actual civilians. This emperor is a manchild. He does what he wants, indulges whatever villainous ideas he has, and basically just takes advantage of his absolute power. He's very dangerous on a personal scale because he has no constraints and no sense of propriety, and this is why he's generally not really in charge. His bureaucracy is more likely to be made up of overly ambitious people trying to manipulate the system for their own benefit, but the emperor just tend towards some good old fashioned chaotic evil."''
-->-- '''WebOriginal/OverlySarcasticProductions''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCBIXgYCds4&list=PLDb22nlVXGgcljcdyDk80bBDXGyeZjZ5e&index=6 Trope Talk: Evil Empires]]"

->''"Caligula was no boy scout''
->''He did things that we can't even talk about''
->''The Romans knew he lost his head''
->''[[CaligulasHorse When he filled a vacant Senate seat with]] Series/MisterEd"''

->''"The second kind [of evil emperor] is the decadent bad guy. He also doesn't tend to have much influence on the inner workings of his empire beyond the occasional gladiatorial arena, mostly because there's likely to be fourteen layers of bureaucracy between him and the actual civilians. This emperor is a manchild. He does what he wants, indulges whatever villainous ideas he has, and basically just takes advantage of his absolute power. He's very dangerous on a personal scale because he has no constraints and no sense of propriety, and this is why he's generally not really in charge. His bureaucracy is more likely to be made up of overly ambitious people trying to manipulate the system for their own benefit, bit the emperor just tend towards some good old fashioned chaotic evil."''

->'''Sarabi:''' If you were half the king [[BerserkButton Mufasa]] was, you'd never-

->'''Sarabi:''' If you were half the king Mufasa was, you'd never...

->'''Scar:''' ''[smacks her]'' I'm TEN TIMES the king Mufasa was!

->'''Yzma''': ''[{{Beat}}]'' HAH! You really should have thought of that before you became ''peasants''! Take him away!

->'''Scar:''' ''[smacks her]'' I'm ''ten times'' the king Mufasa was!

-->-- '''Creator/RobertEHoward''', "[[ConanTheBarbarian A Witch Shall Be Born]]"

->'''Yzma''': ''*{{Beat}}*'' HAH! You really should have thought of that before you became ''peasants''! Take him away!

->'''Scar:''' (smacks her) I'm ''ten times'' the king Mufasa was!

->I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and therefore I am a God.

->If a billion people have to be burned to prove it, my worthiness as a Kim will be DEMONSTRATED!

'''Schindler''': That's power, Amon. ''That'' is power. ''(genuflects)'' Amon the Good.\\

-->--''Film/SchindlersList''

->''Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,\\

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.''

->Salome was clad in [[ConspicuousConsumption the barbaric splendor]] of a woman of Shushan. Jewels glittered in the torchlight on her gilded sandals, on her gold breast-plates and the slender chains that held them in place. Gold anklets clashed as she moved, jeweled bracelets weighted her bare arms. Her tall coiffure was that of a Shemitish woman, and jade pendants hung from gold hoops in her ears, flashing and sparkling with each impatient movement of her haughty head. A gem-crusted girdle supported a silk shirt so transparent that it was in the nature of a cynical mockery of convention.

->'''Caligula:''' Show them our booty! Show them the plunder we gathered from old Neptune! (Four soldiers quickly empty two trunks of their contents; thousands of '''dry seashells''' spill out onto the floor.)\\

'''Caligula:''' (chuckling to himself with delight) Yes! Spoils of the sea; loot from old Neptune! Hee-hee! He'll not take ''me'' on again in a hurry..."

->We've had vicious kings, and we've had idiot kings, but I don't know if we've ever been cursed with a ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs vicious idiot]]'' for a king!

-->--''Series/DoctorWho'', [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS9E4TheMutants}} "The Mutants"]]

'''Kirk:''' (getting impatient) I'm sorry. "''Lord''" Garth.\\

-->--''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', "Whom Gods Destroy"

->Take care, lest your protests grow tiresome. I have asked for so little! Anyone would think that I have asked you to sacrifice yourselves and all your family! And yet, in [[GodOfEvil Slaanesh's]] boundless and pleasing mercy, I have asked only for your daughters. Surely you would not deny me my small enjoyments?

->I will do such things--what they are yet I know not--but they shall be the terror of the earth.
-->--'''Theatre/KingLear'''

'''Sheogorath:''' You are far too hard on yourself, my dear, sweet, homicidally-insane Pelagius. What would the people do without you? Dance? Sing? Smile? (''giggles'') Grow old?

->Those Empire jerks ruined everything for Caim. They massacred his family, destroyed his kingdom, screwed over his shot at royalty. I wonder how things would have turned out differently if the Empire wasn't around and Caim went on to be king.\\
[''Shows a picture of UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler'']\\
Actually, you know maybe it's best not to think about that...

->People of Isla, first order of business is changing the name of this country. It's now called Bananarama and the national anthem is "Venus". Now DANCE!

->[[LargeHam ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON!]]
-->'''[[TheMentallyDisturbed The Earl of Lemongrab]]''', ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''

->Let them hate me, [[TheDreaded so long as they fear me!]]

->If only the Roman people had but one throat so I might slit it!

->[[AGodAmI I, Caligula am a god!]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity I only have to nod and]] [[SlashedThroat all your throats will be cut!]] [[AxCrazy Rome is just a city of necks waiting for me to chop!]]

->The repeated motif of 'working towards the Fuhrer' is cleverly seized-upon by Kershaw to show how much Nazi policy originated at lower levels with [[ProfessionalButtKisser ambitious lickspittles and careerists]] pandering to Hitler, and his perennial attraction to the most radical 'solution' to any problem. In the second volume, the best bits are about how the haphazardly evolved structure of the Nazi state meant that, with more and more power invested in a man pathologically incapable of countenancing retreat under any circumstances, almost everyone except Hitler knew that the war was lost, yet were unable - often unwilling - to do anything about it.
-->--'''[[http://www.philipsandifer.com/blog/voluminous-description/ Jack Graham]]''' on ''Hitler: A Bigography''

->Those who do not love me [[IfICantHaveYou do not deserve to live.]]

->He kills our people, arrests people who are against his administration. He produces drugs. [[ViceCity It's a national industry.]] He kidnaps other people from South Korea, or other democratic countries. He is doing all sorts of bad things, like the devil. Do not trust him, never, ever.
-->--Union worker '''Kim Duk Hong''' on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il

->If [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon]] had not left by helicopter, [[BedlamHouse men in white]] would have taken him away.
-->--'''Creator/GoreVidal'''

->One of the many questions which it is the function of the early empire to answer is, "Just how silly can the emperor be without causing the empire to collapse?" The answer, in every case, is "Very silly indeed."

->'''Caligula:''' Show them our booty! Show them the plunder we gathered from old Neptune! (Four soldiers quickly empty two trunks of their contents; thousands of '''dry seashells''' spill out onto the floor.)\\
'''Senator:''' [[FlatWhat Seashells?!]]\\
'''Caligula:''' (chuckling to himself with delight) Yes! Spoils of the sea; loot from old Neptune! Hee-hee! He'll not take ''me'' on again in a hurry..."
-->-- ''I Claudius''

-->--'''WHAuden''', "Epitaph of a Tyrant"

-->--'''Creator/RobertEHoward''', "[[ConanTheBarbarian A Witch Shall Be Born]]"

-->--''Discworld/MenAtArms'', about the aptly-named Mad Lord Snapcase

->[[IfICantHaveYou Those who do not love me do not deserve to live.]]

->''I'm the king! I can do whatever I want!''
-->-- '''Scar''', ''Disney/TheLionKing''