"There is nothing man will not attempt when great enterprises hold out the promise of great rewards"
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Ambition wakes when the stakes are high and the prize gleams. The claim that there is nothing man will not attempt under the lure of great rewards captures a perennial truth about incentives: they do not merely motivate, they reshape what feels possible. Livy, surveying the rise of Rome, saw how promises of glory, wealth, and honor could move individuals and states to feats of audacity. Generals marched armies over mountains, engineers spanned rivers, citizens endured privation, all animated by the belief that success would bring immortal name, spoils, or the salvation of the commonwealth.
The line carries both admiration and a warning. On one hand, high rewards coax out courage, ingenuity, and endurance. They catalyze discovery and statecraft. Rome’s greatness was not built on modest aims. On the other hand, the same lure dissolves restraint. If the prize is dazzling enough, men venture beyond the bounds of prudence and ethics. Livy’s histories are studded with exempla of noble daring and catastrophic overreach, from the disciplined tenacity of Fabius to the destructive ambition of those who gambled the republic’s stability for personal power.
The mechanism is psychological as much as political. Human beings discount distant risks when immediate promise burns bright. Hope, not certainty, is the fuel. A vision of triumph can make danger seem smaller, and it can dress self-interest in the raiment of virtue. Leaders understand this and craft incentives—triumphs, land grants, offices—that harness private desire to public aim, with mixed results.
The insight still holds. Venture capital, scientific races, and space exploration show how outsized rewards mobilize talent and risk-taking, while bubbles and frauds show the wreckage when the appetite outruns judgment. Livy invites a double recognition: greatness rarely comes without extravagant attempts, and the conditions that summon such attempts demand character and institutions capable of steering them. The promise of great rewards is the engine; discipline, law, and civic virtue are the brakes.
The line carries both admiration and a warning. On one hand, high rewards coax out courage, ingenuity, and endurance. They catalyze discovery and statecraft. Rome’s greatness was not built on modest aims. On the other hand, the same lure dissolves restraint. If the prize is dazzling enough, men venture beyond the bounds of prudence and ethics. Livy’s histories are studded with exempla of noble daring and catastrophic overreach, from the disciplined tenacity of Fabius to the destructive ambition of those who gambled the republic’s stability for personal power.
The mechanism is psychological as much as political. Human beings discount distant risks when immediate promise burns bright. Hope, not certainty, is the fuel. A vision of triumph can make danger seem smaller, and it can dress self-interest in the raiment of virtue. Leaders understand this and craft incentives—triumphs, land grants, offices—that harness private desire to public aim, with mixed results.
The insight still holds. Venture capital, scientific races, and space exploration show how outsized rewards mobilize talent and risk-taking, while bubbles and frauds show the wreckage when the appetite outruns judgment. Livy invites a double recognition: greatness rarely comes without extravagant attempts, and the conditions that summon such attempts demand character and institutions capable of steering them. The promise of great rewards is the engine; discipline, law, and civic virtue are the brakes.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
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