It is easy at any moment to surrender a large fortune; to build one up is a difficult and an arduous task.
LivyRead
No wickedness proceeds on any grounds of reason.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wickedness is not justified by rational arguments.
This quote by Livy suggests that immoral actions cannot be supported by logical reasoning. It implies that wickedness stems from irrationality and cannot find a valid foundation in sound judgment or ethical considerations.
Themes
WickednessReasonMoralityIrrationalityEvil
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on ethical dilemmas, one might use this quote to argue that immoral actions lack a rational basis.
More from Livy
All quotes βValor is the soldier's adornment.
LivyRead
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.
LivyRead
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.
LivyRead
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.
LivyRead
The troubles which have come upon us always seem more serious than those which are only threatening.
LivyRead
Similar quotes
To be free is to be capable of thinking one's own thoughts - not the thoughts merely of the body, or of society, but thoughts generated by one's deepest, most original, most essential and spiritual self, one's individuality.
Rudolf SteinerRead
And thus I clothe my naked villainy With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
William ShakespeareRead
The man who believes that the secrets of the world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down." -The Judge
Cormac MccarthyRead
If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.
C. S. LewisRead
A low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men.
Eric HofferRead
What I am against is false optimism: the notion either that things have to go well, or else that they tend to, or else that the default condition of historical trajectories is characteristically beneficial in the long-run.
Tony JudtRead