Daily Inspiration Quote by Plautus

Profit, Plautus reminds us, is never a free lunch; it is a bill that arrives eventually, whether you ordered it or not. "He who seeks for gain, must be at some expense" carries the brisk, transactional logic of Roman comedy, where everyone is bargaining: lovers, masters, slaves, parasites, pimps. In that world, desire is practical and money is moral weather. You can chase advantage, but you will pay in coin, reputation, time, or conscience.

The line works because it is both advice and diagnosis. On the surface, it reads like common sense economics: investment precedes return. Underneath, it’s a wink at the audience about how schemes actually operate. Plautus built plots out of hustles and reversals, so "expense" is elastic. Sometimes it’s literal bribes and fees; often it’s the cost of getting entangled in your own con, of needing ever more elaborate lies to protect a small edge. Gain demands upkeep.

Context matters: Plautus was adapting Greek New Comedy for a Roman public living amid expanding trade, war spoils, and a rising cash culture. His theater is crowded with people trying to convert status into money or money into status. The sentence functions like a proverb you’d hear in the marketplace, then watch immediately tested onstage as characters pay more than they planned.

There’s also a quiet ethical bite. "Must" doesn’t celebrate ambition; it cautions it. Wanting profit isn’t condemned, but it’s stripped of innocence. If you’re hunting gain, you’ve already agreed to spend something. The only question is whether you choose the price or let the price choose you.