“Why I'm an artist, not a philosopher? Because I think in words rather than ideas.”

“One dies if necessary, one breaks rather than bending. But I bend, because I continue to love myself.”

“I kept myself aloof from the world not because I had enemies, but because I had friends there. Not because they damaged me, as this happens usually, but because they thought I'm better than I really am. It was a lie that I could not stand.”

“I'm the only true artist Rome has known - the only one, believe me - to match his inspiration with his deeds.CHEREA: That's only a matter of having the power.CALIGULA: Quite true. Other artists create to compensate for their lack of power. I don't need to make a work of art; I live it.”

“There are more things in people that are rather worth of admiration than contempt.”

“At that moment he knew what his mother was thinking, and that she loved him. But he knew, too, that to love someone means relatively little; or, rather, that love is never strong enough to find the words befitting it. Thus he and his mother would always love each other silently. And one day she--or he--would die, without ever, all their lives long, having gone farther than this by way of making their affection known.”

“I would rather live my life as if there is a god and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.”