Re: "Everything in moderation"

Posted by Dhm on May 21, 2004

In Reply to: Re: "Everything in moderation" posted by Word Camel on May 21, 2004

: : Help! I'm doing a story on moderation, and would love to know the derivation of that famous phrase. I've spent a few hours on it thus far... nothing. Any ideas? Thanks tons!

:
: I think the concept is from Aristole's golden mean. It's been a long time since I read Aristole though so I'm not sure if it's lifted directly from his writing or not. It's not in Brewer Phrase and Fable or the Partidge dictionary of catch phrases.

I think the full adage is "Everything in moderation. Nothing to excess." I couldn't find an exact quote but it seems to sum up the philosophy of Epicurus pretty nicely. Epicurus's "personal hedonism taught that only through self-restraint, moderation, and detachment can one achieve the kind of tranquillity that is true happiness."