Valor is the soldier's adornment.
LivyRead
It is easy at any moment to surrender a large fortune; to build one up is a difficult and an arduous task.
Interpretation
Building wealth takes hard work, while losing it can happen easily.
This quote by Livy highlights the contrast between the difficulty of accumulating wealth and the ease with which it can be lost. It suggests that while financial stability requires effort, discipline, and perseverance, it can be quickly undermined by poor choices or circumstances, underscoring the importance of financial prudence and the value of hard work.
In practice
In a financial literacy workshop discussing the importance of saving and investment.
Valor is the soldier's adornment.
The army from Asia introduced a foreign luxury to Rome; it was then the meals began to require more dishes and more expenditure . . . the cook, who had up to that time been employed as a slave of low price, become dear: what had been nothing but a metier was elevated to an art.
The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through, to avoid.
Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.
The troubles which have come upon us always seem more serious than those which are only threatening.
No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.
Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are.
In the long run, we only hit what we aim at.
It is not enough to be a hardworking person. Equally important is the job you are working at.
Price doesn't make deals, and salary doesn't control your career.
The two are not mutually exclusive, but we think we can have wealth without good ideas and without values and without a clear vision. Wealth without vision is insanity.
You have to hit the fastball to play in the big leagues.
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