Quotations about Moderation and Balance
Enough is as good as a feast. ~Proverb
...we may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running.
~William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, c.1612
Too much
Moderation is impossible for passionate people. ~John A. McDougall, M.D., The Starch Solution, 2012, drmcdougall.com
Excessive severity misses its own aim. ~Publilius Syrus, 1st century BCE, from the Latin by D. Lyman, 1856
...they are as sick that surfeit
with too much as they that starve with nothing.
~William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, c.1596
We go all wrong, by too strenuous a resolution to go all right. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Our moral theorists seem never content with the normal. Why must it always be a contest between fornication, obesity and laziness, and celibacy, fasting and hard labor? ~Martin H. Fischer
He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Imbittering all his state...
~Horace, Odes, Book II, Ode X, translated by William Cowper, 1784
Licinius, trust a seaman's lore:
Steer not too boldly to the deep,
Nor, fearing storms, by treacherous shore
Too closely creep.
Who makes the golden mean his guide,
Shuns miser's cabin, foul and dark,
Shuns gilded roofs, where pomp and pride
Are envy's mark.
With fiercer blasts the pine's dim height
Is rock'd; proud towers with heavier fall
Crash to the ground; and thunders smite
The mountains tall...
Be brave in trouble; meet distress
With dauntless front; but when the gale
Too prosperous blows, be wise no less,
And shorten sail.
~Horace, Odes, Book II, Ode X, translated by John Conington, 1882