"Moderation is best in all things"
About this Quote
An aphorism like "Moderation is best in all things" is meant to sound like common sense, but its power lies in how aggressively it polices excess. Cleobulus is writing from the world of archaic Greece, where status, pride, and competition routinely tipped into disaster: feuds, tyranny, humiliating defeats, public shame. In that environment, moderation is not a bland lifestyle tip; it is a civic safety mechanism.
The line works because it compresses an entire political theory into four words. "Best" is doing the muscle work here. It quietly claims authority over every arena where people like to argue their exceptionalism: wealth, speech, desire, vengeance, even virtue. The subtext is corrective: you are not as rational as you think, and your impulses are not private. Your overreach spills into the polis. Moderation becomes a form of social hygiene, the etiquette of staying governable.
There is also an elite angle. Aphorisms like this circulate among people who benefit from stability. Telling everyone to avoid extremes discourages revolt as much as it discourages decadence. It flatters the speaker as balanced, measured, fit to advise, while casting opponents as intemperate. That double function is why the maxim endured: it can read as ethical wisdom or as a soft tool of control.
Still, its durability comes from its psychological accuracy. Extremes feel like clarity; moderation feels like compromise. The proverb insists that the hard, unglamorous middle is where most lives, and most societies, actually survive.
The line works because it compresses an entire political theory into four words. "Best" is doing the muscle work here. It quietly claims authority over every arena where people like to argue their exceptionalism: wealth, speech, desire, vengeance, even virtue. The subtext is corrective: you are not as rational as you think, and your impulses are not private. Your overreach spills into the polis. Moderation becomes a form of social hygiene, the etiquette of staying governable.
There is also an elite angle. Aphorisms like this circulate among people who benefit from stability. Telling everyone to avoid extremes discourages revolt as much as it discourages decadence. It flatters the speaker as balanced, measured, fit to advise, while casting opponents as intemperate. That double function is why the maxim endured: it can read as ethical wisdom or as a soft tool of control.
Still, its durability comes from its psychological accuracy. Extremes feel like clarity; moderation feels like compromise. The proverb insists that the hard, unglamorous middle is where most lives, and most societies, actually survive.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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