This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"What is philosophy? To deliberate well in reference to any question that emerges, never to be carried away by impulses, but to ponder over the injuries that result from the passions, and to act rightly as the circumstances demand, practicing moderation." - Apocrypha NULL
"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." - William Pitt, Lord Chatham or Lord William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, aka The Elder Pitt and The Great Commander
"Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues." - Joseph Hall, fully Bishop Joseph Hall
"A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation." - Molière, pen name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin NULL
"Virtue’s tool is moderation, not strength." - Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"We are all of us richer than we think we are; but we are taught to borrow and to beg, and brought up more to make use of what is another’s than our own. Man can in nothing fix and conform himself to his mere necessity. Of pleasure, wealth and power he grasps at more than he can hold; his greediness is incapable of moderation." - Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Through a fatality inseparable from human nature, moderation in great men is very rare: and as it is always much easier to push on force in the direction in which it moves than to stop its movement, so in the superior class of the people, it is less difficult, perhaps, to find men extremely virtuous, than extremely prudent." - Baron de Montesquieu, fully Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu
"Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine
"Learning, if rightly applied, makes a young man thinking, attentive, industrious, confident and wary; and an old man cheerful and useful. It is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, an entertainment at all times; it cheers in solitude, and gives moderation and wisdom in all circumstances." - Thomas W. Palmer
"Nothing in excess; moderation is best in all things." - Theognis, aka Theognis of Megara NULL
"The principle of self-interest rightly understood produces no great acts of self-sacrificed, but it suggest daily small acts of self-denial. By itself it cannot suffice to make a man virtuous; but it disciplines a number of person sin habits of regularity, temperance, moderation, foresight, self-command; and if it does not lead men straight to virtue by the will, it gradually draws them in that direction by their habits. If the principle of interest rightly understood were to sway the whole moral world, extraordinary virtues would doubtless be more rare; but I think that gross depravity would then also be less common. The principle of interest rightly understood perhaps prevents men from rising far above the level of mankind, but a great number of other men, who were falling far below it, are caught and restrained by it." -
"The principle of self-interest rightly understood produces no great acts of self-sacrifice, but it suggests daily small acts of self-denial. By itself it cannot suffice to make a an virtuous; but it disciplines a number of persons in habits of regularity, temperance, moderation, foresight, self-command; and, if it does not lead men straight to virtue by the will, it gradually draws them in that direction by their habits. Observe some few individuals, they are lowered by it; survey mankind, it is raised." -
"All sin is a form of lying...Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." - Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL
"True happiness springs from moderation." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Extremism is the pursuit of the Presidency is an unpardonable vice. Moderation in the affairs of the nation is the highest virtue." - Lyndon Johnson, fully Lyndon Baines Johnson, aka LBJ
"Wisdom has its excesses, and is in no less need of moderation than folly." - Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Mankind must not be governed with too much severity; we ought to make a prudent use of the means which nature has given us to conduct them. If we inquire into the cause of all human corruptions, we shall find that they proceed form the impunity of criminals, and not from the moderation of punishments." - Baron de Montesquieu, fully Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu
"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." - Thomas Paine
"Only the intelligent can understand what is obvious and what is concealed. Strength may be good or it may be evil. The same is true of weakness. The ideal is moderation… Purify the heart; that is all." - Zhou Dunyi, also Chou Tun-i or Zhou Dunshi
"Moderation in all things." - Cleobulus NULL
"If there is one single secret to long life, that secret is moderation." - George Gallup, also Gallop
"For governing a country well thee is nothing better than moderation. The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a mountain, supple like a tree in the wind, he has no destination in view and makes use of anything life happens to bring his way. Nothing is impossible for him. Because he has let go, he can care for the people’s welfare as a mother cares for her child." - Lao Tzu, ne Li Urh, also Laotse, Lao Tse, Lao Tse, Lao Zi, Laozi, Lao Zi, La-tsze
"Those words, “temperate and moderate,” are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing moderately good, if not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is a species of vice." - Thomas Paine
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." - Barry Goldwater
"Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." - Barry Goldwater
"To go beyond the bounds of moderation is to outrage humanity." - Blaise Pascal
"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." - Blaise Pascal
"Moderation is medicine." - Burmese Proverbs
"Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance." - Charles Caleb Colton
"Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, lead to ruin." - Tacitus, fully Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus NULL
"Moderation has been created a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"Moderation must not claim the merit of combating and conquering ambition; for they can never exist in the same subject. Moderation is the languor and sloth of the soul; ambition its activity and ardor." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"It is the nature of tyranny and rapacity never to learn moderation from the ill-success of first oppressions; on the contrary, all oppressors, all men thinking highly of the methods dictated by their nature, attribute the frustration of their desires to the want of sufficient rigor." - Edmund Burke
"Fortify yourself with moderation; for this is an impregnable fortress." - Epictetus "the Stoic" NULL
"Do not overwork the mind any more than the body; do everything with moderation." - Francis Bacon
"Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative." - Henry Kissinger, fully Henry Alfred Kissinger
"Moderation is the key of lasting enjoyment." - Hosea Ballou
"Moderation is the key to lasting enjoyment." - Hosea Ballou
"Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance." - James Bryant Conant
"Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues." - Joseph Hall
"Tolerance in the sense of moderation or superior knowledge or skepticism is actually the worst form of intolerance." - Karl Barth