“Moderation in all things, especially moderation.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Not anything in excess, a translation from the Greek μηδὲν ἄγαν. "Nothing in excess" as inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
Source: Andria (The Lady of Andros), Line 61.
“Moderation in all things, especially moderation.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“I think, as with all things, honor is best appreciated in moderation. As is cruelty.”
Pierce Brown book Dark Age
Source: Dark Age (2019), Ch. 92: Graveyard of Tyrants; Lysander
“As there must be moderation in other things, so there must be moderation in self-criticism.”
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist
Source: The Principles of Ethics (1897), Part III: The Ethics of Individual Life, Ch. 10, General Conclusions
Context: As there must be moderation in other things, so there must be moderation in self-criticism. Perpetual contemplation of our own actions produces a morbid consciousness, quite unlike that normal consciousness accompanying right actions spontaneously done; and from a state of unstable equilibrium long maintained by effort, there is apt to be a fall towards stable equilibrium, in which the primitive nature reasserts itself. Retrogression rather than progression may hence result.
Mohammed Omar (1959–2013) Founder and former leader of the Taliban
Interview with Mullah Omar - transcript http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1657368.stm, BBC News, 15 November 2001. <br class="br">Moderation
“Moderation, we find, is an extremely difficult thing to get in this country.”
Flann O'Brien (1911–1966) Irish writer
Source: The Best of Myles (1968)
“Moderation is a fatal thing, Lady Hunstanton. Nothing succeeds like excess.”
Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance
Lord Illingworth, Act III
A Woman of No Importance (1893)
Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general in the Civil War
Letter to a "Friends of Temperance" society (9 December 1869); as quoted in Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of Gen. Robert E. Lee (1875) by John William Jones, p. 170
1860s
Solón (-638–-558 BC) Athenian legislator
Plutarch Solon, ch. 27; translation by Bernadotte Perrin. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Sol.+27.1
Mario Cuomo (1932–2015) American politician, Governor of New York
As quoted in The Nastiest Things Ever Said about Republicans (2006) by Martin Higgins, p. 131