October 6, 2025

This morning I found myself thinking of a scene from Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. Here’s how it goes.

A character enters a castle. She turns around to look at the door she entered from, and above it sees the inscription, Be bold. She walks into a second room, this one all gold, and turns again to look back above the doorway. Be bold, again. As she walks through the room, she sees written over the walls, Be bold, be bold, be bold. Then, at the far end, she comes to an iron door. Above it, another inscription: Be not too bold.

I like this scene more than I think I can explain. Perhaps because it captures something of the uncertainty of our decision-making. The difficulty of knowing where boldness ends and recklessness begins. How the distinction between the two sometimes only becomes clear looking backwards, ie. in retrospect. It’s popped into my mind a few times lately, market valuations being what they are right now.