#moderation

My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, "Sir, I am your most humble servant." You are not his most humble servant. You may say, "These are bad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times." You don't mind the times ... You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don't think foolishly. ↗

— Samuel Johnson

#cant #excess #expression #language #moderation

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. ↗

— Anne Brontë

#children #control #evil #excess #moderation

I'll be 65 in September and I work as much as I want to, take cruises with Kay, relax with my family, do everything in moderation, because I want to enjoy my life. ↗

— Frankie Avalon

#cruises #enjoy #everything #everything in moderation #family

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation. ↗

— Saint Augustine

#easier #many #moderation #perfect #than

We have followed a path of moderation, development is our priority, national unity, good community relations, Muslims and non Muslims, this is what has given us the advantage. ↗

— Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

#community #development #followed #given #good

The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver. ↗

— Charles de Montesquieu

#moderation #should #spirit

I like to talk about my obsession with french fries because I don't want people to think that 'Let's Move' is about complete, utter deprivation. It's about moderation and real-life changes and ideas that really work for families. ↗

— Michelle Obama

#because #changes #complete #deprivation #families

Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin. ↗

— Tacitus

#due #generosity #leads #moderation #ruin

We must remember balance and moderation. Patience can be spiritually enriching and virtuous… but when taken in excess, it turns to procrastination, the poison of inaction. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#excess #inaction #moderation #patience #poison

Too much faith is the worst ally. When you believe in something literally, through your faith you'll turn it into something absurd. One who is a genuine adherent, if you like, of some political outlook, never takes its sophistries seriously, but only its practical aims, which are concealed beneath these sophistries. Political rhetoric and sophistries do not exist, after all, in order that they be believed; rather, they have to serve as a common and agreed upon alibi. Foolish people who take them in earnest sooner or later discover inconsistencies in them, begin to protest, and finish finally and infamously as heretics and apostates. No, too much faith never brings anything good... ↗

— Milan Kundera

#dogma #faith #history #machiavellian #moderation