Quotes about moderation

O mind of man, knowing not fate or coming doom or how to keep bounds when uplifted with favoring fortune!

My son, I caution you to keep

The middle way, for if your pinions dip

Too low the waters may impede your flight;

And if they soar too high the sun may scorch them.

Fly midway.

You will be safest in the middle.

The gifts of the earth are to be shared, but gifts are not limitless. The generosity of the earth is not an invitation to take it all.

We are told to take only that which is given.

“So Karla is fireproof?" Guillam asked finally. "He can't be bought and he can't be beaten?”

“Karla's pulled the Circus inside out; that much I understand, so do you,” Smiley said quietly. “Karla is not fireproof because he's a fanatic. And one day, if I have anything to do with it, that lack of moderation will be his downfall.”

I’m all for courageous action, in moderation, Peter. But you have an alarming tendency toward heroics.

Nothing in excess, including self-denial.

The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence;

not in silence, but restraint.

I have heard that, with some persons, temperance – that is, moderation – is almost impossible; and if abstinence be an evil (which some have doubted), no one will deny that excess is a greater. Some parents have entirely prohibited their children from tasting intoxicating liquors; but a parent’s authority cannot last for ever; children are naturally prone to hanker after forbidden things; and a child, in such a case, would be likely to have a strong curiosity to taste, and try the effect of what has been so lauded and enjoyed by others, so strictly forbidden to himself – which curiosity would generally be gratified on the first convenient opportunity; and the restraint once broken, serious consequences might ensue.

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature.

Dave was committed to making it a truly memorable weekend in the sense that he would remember nothing whatsoever about it. “It’s all about moderation,” he said, “Everything in moderation. Even moderation itself. From this it follows that you must from time to time, have excess. And this is going to be one of those occasions.” (p. 152).