C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Moderation
The just medium.
Moderation is the pleasure of the wise.
True happiness springs from moderation.
To live long, it is necessary to live slowly.
All the operations of Nature are gradual.
The most haste, ever the worst speed.
Tranquil pleasures last the longest.
Moderate pleasure relaxes the spirit, and moderates it.
They are sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing.
In everything the middle course is best: all things in excess bring trouble to men.
Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl-chain of all virtues.
It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.
Moderation consists in being moved as angels are moved.
There are times when moderation must be hypocrisy.
There is a German proverb which says that Take-it-Easy and Live-Long are brothers.
There is a mean in all things. Even virtue itself hath its stated limits; which not being strictly observed, it ceases to be virtue.
Fortify yourself with moderation; for this is an impregnable fortress.
Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation.
The superior man wishes to be slow in his words and earnest in his conduct.
Unlimited activity, of whatever kind, must end in bankruptcy.
Health, longevity, beauty, are other names for personal purity; and temperance is the regimen for all.
Equally inured by moderation either state to bear, prosperous or adverse.
Moderation is commonly firm; and firmness is commonly successful.
Moderation is the key-note of lasting enjoyment.
Who loves the golden mean is safe from the poverty of a tenement, is free from the envy of a palace.
Moderation resembles temperance. We are not so unwilling to eat more, as afraid of doing ourselves harm by it.
Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it a charm.
The boundary of man is moderation. When once we pass that pale our guardian angel quits his charge of us.
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.
It is a little stream, which flows softly, but freshens everything along its course.
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
It is certainly a very important lesson to learn how to enjoy ordinary things, and to be able to relish your being, without the transport of some passion, or gratification of some appetite.
Moderation cannot have the credit of combating and subduing ambition,—they are never found together. Moderation is the languor and indolence of the soul, as ambition is its activity and ardor.
Education and study, and the favors of the muses, confer no greater benefit on those that seek them than these humanizing and civilizing lessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations prescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes.
For aught I see, they are as sick, that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing; it is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean; superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer.
Let a man take time enough for the most trivial deed, though it be but the paring of his nails. The buds swell imperceptibly, without hurry or confusion,—as if the short spring days were an eternity.
Moderation, which consists in an indifference about little things, and in a prudent and well-proportioned zeal about things of importance, can proceed from nothing but true knowledge, which has its foundation in self-acquaintance.
To go beyond the bounds of moderation is to outrage humanity. The greatness of the human soul is shown by knowing how to keep within proper bounds. So far from greatness consisting in going beyond its limits, it really consists in keeping within it.