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Who really said it

In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes

Attributed to Julius Caesar 100–44 BC · Roman general, statesman & author of the war Commentaries
Attributed Rights unconfirmed

The thought is genuinely Caesar’s: it condenses a sentence from his own memoir De Bello Civili (The Civil War), Book III, 68 — Latin “… parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit”, on how fortune, above all in war, turns great outcomes on tiny hinges. The neat eight-word English, though, is a condensed ‘variant translation’ ↗, not the wording of any standard scholarly edition.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes” Julius Caesar, The Civil War, Book III, 68 (paraphrased); trans. A. G. Peskett, Loeb, 1914

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Provenance

The source

Work
De Bello Civili (The Civil War), Book III, 68
Author
Julius Caesar (c. 45 BC)
Latin
“… parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit”
Translation
Popular English is a condensed variant; standard scholarly rendering is A. G. Peskett, Loeb, 1914

But fortune, which has great influence in affairs generally and especially in war, produces by a slight disturbance of balance important changes in human affairs; as happened then.

A. G. Peskett’s Loeb translation (1914) of the sentence at Civil War III.68. The circulating eight-word line — “In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes” — tightens this same passage into an aphorism.

Caesar, The Civil War III.68 (Loeb, 1914) at Penelope

How we traced it

  • Wikiquote ↗ lists the line in its sourced section as a variant translation of The Civil War, Book III, 68.
  • The passage’s Latin — “Sed fortuna … parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit” — sits in Caesar’s own text ↗.
  • A. G. Peskett’s public-domain 1914 Loeb translation ↗ renders it “… produces by a slight disturbance of balance important changes in human affairs.”

Caesar’s Latin original (De Bello Civili III.68, c. 45 BC) and A. G. Peskett’s Loeb translation of 1914 are both long in the public domain. The exact popular eight-word English wording, however, is an unattributed condensation whose specific translator and date could not be identified, so its copyright status as shown is left open.

Fact-check

What gets garbled

This is not a fake — the idea and the source are real. What has drifted is the packaging: both the tidy English and a tidy Latin version that circulate are later condensations, not Caesar’s literal words.

A condensed paraphrase, not a literal translation tightened wording

Caesar’s sentence is longer and hedged around fortuna; standard translations read “fortune … produces by a slight disturbance of balance important changes in human affairs.” The eight-word aphorism is a variant rendering ↗.

A spurious rewording that spreads online misquoted Latin

A neat Latin form — “in bello parvis momentis magni casus intercedunt” — is often passed off as Caesar’s original, but his actual text ↗ reads “parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit.”

The reflection is authentically Caesar’s, from his own memoir of the civil war (Civil War III.68 ↗); it is the crisp English and Latin sound-bites that are later inventions.

Context

Why it mattered

Caesar wrote the line as an author reflecting on his own campaign against Pompey. It arrives at De Bello Civili III.68, amid the hard fighting around Dyrrhachium, where a local reverse could easily have turned decisive — the very kind of small hinge the sentence is about.

The aphorism’s afterlife owes as much to translators and quote books as to Caesar: stripped of its Latin qualification around fortuna (fortune), it became a portable maxim about how great events pivot on trivial causes.

Fortune, especially in war, turns great changes on very small hinges.

A note on chapter numbering

Standard Loeb and Wikiquote citations place the sentence at Book III, 68; some Latin editions (e.g. The Latin Library) number the surrounding chapters slightly differently. The wording and Latin are the same passage.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Truth

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Julius Caesaren.wikiquote.org

Sourced entry that files the line as a variant translation of Civil War III.68.
Civil Wars III (Loeb, 1914)penelope.uchicago.edu

Bill Thayer’s reproduction of A. G. Peskett’s public-domain translation, including ch. 68.
De Bello Civili, Liber IIIthelatinlibrary.com

Caesar’s Latin text, containing the sentence about fortune and slight causes.
The Civil Wars, trans. Peskettarchive.org

Scanned 1914 Loeb edition of Caesar’s Civil Wars in Latin and English.
Commentarii de Bello Civilien.wikipedia.org

Background on the work in which the passage appears.

About the author

Caesar, in his own words

Julius Caesar

100–44 BC · Roman general, statesman & author of the war Commentaries

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose campaigns and civil war reshaped the Republic. He was also his own historian: his terse third-person Commentaries on the Gallic and civil wars are prized as models of Latin prose. The reflective aside quoted here comes from that self-authored account of the war against Pompey.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Julius Caesar, The Civil War (Bellum Civile), Book III, ch. 68; trans. A. G. Peskett, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914). The circulating eight-word English is a later condensed variant of this passage.

MLA (9th ed.)

Caesar, Julius. The Civil War. Translated by A. G. Peskett, Harvard University Press, 1914.

APA (7th ed.)

Caesar, J. (1914). The civil war (A. G. Peskett, Trans.). Harvard University Press. (Original work published ca. 45 BCE)

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/in-war-events-of-importance-are-the-result-of-trivial-causes

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