Brewer's: Aut Cæsar aut nullus

[Latin, Either Cæsar or no one ], everything or nothing; all or not at all. Cæsar used to say, “he would sooner be first in a village than second at Rome.” Milton makes Satan say,

“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.”

Milton. Par. Lost
. i. 263. (See Six.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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