历览前贤国与家，成由勤俭破由奢。

Looking back at the former wise rulers and nations, their success was achieved through diligence and frugality, while their downfall was caused by extravagance and luxury.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 历览 lìlǎn
  1. (literary) to read widely; to see one by one
  2. to read widely; to see one by one
2 前贤 qiánxián
  1. (literary) great thinker of the past; sage
  2. great thinker of the past; sage
=3 国 Guó surname Guo
=3 国 guó
  1. country; nation; state
  2. (bound form) national
=4 与 yú variant of 欤 yú
=4 与 yǔ
  1. and
  2. to give
  3. together with
=4 与 yù to take part in
=5 家 jiā used in 家伙 jiāhuo and 家俱 jiājù
=5 家 jiā
  1. home
  2. family
  3. (polite) my (sister, uncle etc)
  4. classifier for families or businesses
  5. refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China
  6. noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian

classifier: 個
=5 家 jie only used in 大家 (dàgū)
=6 成 Chéng
  1. surname Cheng
  2. short name for Chengdu 成都 Chéngdū
=6 成 chéng
  1. to succeed
  2. to finish
  3. to complete
  4. to accomplish
  5. to become
  6. to turn into
  7. to be all right
  8. OK!
  9. one tenth
7 由 yóu
  1. to follow
  2. from
  3. because of; due to
  4. by; via; through
  5. (before a noun and a verb) it is for ... to ...
8 勤俭 qínjiǎn hardworking and frugal
9 破 pò
  1. broken
  2. damaged
  3. worn out
  4. lousy
  5. rotten
  6. to break, split or cleave
  7. to get rid of
  8. to destroy
  9. to break with
  10. to defeat
  11. to capture (a city etc)
  12. to expose the truth of
10 由 yóu
  1. to follow
  2. from
  3. because of; due to
  4. by; via; through
  5. (before a noun and a verb) it is for ... to ...
=11 奢 shē extravagant
=11 奢 shá a surname