Concept

Golden mean (philosophy)

Overview

perfect moderation

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.

Truth, however, is not always interesting, and many things are believed because they are interesting although, in fact, there is little other evidence in their favour. The golden mean is a case in point: it may be an uninteresting doctrine, but in a very great many matters it is a true one. One respect in which it is necessary to preserve the golden mean is as regards the balance between effort and resignation. Both…
Bertrand Russell, The conquest of happiness
States what Golden mean is; names Golden mean several times.
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
The justification for gifts of money, therefore, is either necessity or expediency. *59* #The golden mean is best.# And in making them even in such cases, the rule of the golden mean is best. To be sure, Lucius Philippus, the son of Quintus, a man of great ability and unusual renown, used to make it his boast that without giving any entertainments he had risen to all the positions looked upon as the highest…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis
States what Golden mean is; names Golden mean twice.
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
And I do not rely solely on the dictum of Solon, who was at once the wisest of the Seven and the only lawgiver among them. He said that a state was kept together by two things--reward and punishment. Of course there is a certain moderation to be observed in both, as in everything else, and what we may call a golden mean in both these things. But I have no intention to dilate on such an important subject in this…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero
Names Golden mean.
Read the chapter · Open in the reader

Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Environmental ethics.

Explore Golden mean (philosophy) in the interactive graph →