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aut Caesar, aut nihil

American  
[out kahy-sahr out ni-hil, awt see-zer awt nahy-hil] / aʊt ˈkaɪ sɑr aʊt ˈnɪ hɪl, ɔt ˈsi zər ɔt ˈnaɪ hɪl /
Latin.

  1. either a Caesar or nothing; all or nothing.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Aut Caesar, aut nihil�Caesar or nothing�was his unspoken motto.

From Time Magazine Archive

Yriarte, mixing his facts throughout with a liberal leaven of fiction, tells us that "this is the precise moment in which Cesare Borgia, fixing his eyes upon the Roman Caesar, takes him definitely for his model and adopts the device 'Aut Caesar, aut nihil.'"

From Project Gutenberg

The motto of a great actor should be aut Caesar aut nihil.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.