Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.
HoraceRead
Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest how to use it A mistress, if thou knowest not.
Interpretation
Money can be a helpful tool or a controlling force depending on how one utilizes it.
This quote by Horace suggests that money itself is neutral; it can either serve you as a helpful assistant (a handmaiden) or dominate your life and decisions (a mistress) based on your understanding and management of it. The implication is that wise handling of financial resources can lead to benefits and freedom, while mismanagement can lead to a sense of enslavement or loss of control.
In practice
In a financial literacy workshop to emphasize the importance of proper money management.
Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.
Now is the time for drinking; now the time to beat the earth with unfettered foot.
Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.
It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, _x000D_ but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, _x000D_ to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, _x000D_ and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.
Few cross the river of time and are able to reach non-being. Most of them run up and down only on this side of the river. But those who when they know the law follow the path of the law, they shall reach the other shore and go beyond the realm of death.
Wisdom is knowing when you can't be wise.
Above all, know that ego isn't personal. It isn't who you are. If you consider the ego to be your personal problem, that's just more ego.
The wind blows on us all, but it's how you set your ssail that makes the difference.
You never find yourself until you face the truth.
I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom: As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
God has put something noble and good into every heart His hand created.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.