nobody asked…

I have frequently heard that Ben Franklin said something along the lines of moderation in all things. Those words actually came from Aristotle, whose principles likely influenced Franklin as he composed his 13 Virtues. The ninth virtue read:

MODERATION: Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

Related to his position on moderation was his first virtue:

TEMPERANCE: Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation.

From the well documented life of Franklin, we know that he possessed a abundant proclivity for good food, strong drink, and the companionship of women. Yet, in Poor Richard’s Almanack he advised:

Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and cloth, or the Gout will seize you and plague you both.

We also know that he suffered gout for much of his life. So, as savvy as old Ben was, and as much he represents so much of what was good in our early days as a country, he had his flaws. He frequently seemed to be saying, do as I say and not as I do. Or perhaps he was attuned to the words of W. Somerset Maugham that would come a couple of centuries later:

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.

Now that is a rule I can live with!

After the above was written and ready for publishing, I found this applicable and appropriate thought from Thomas Paine, old Common Sense, himself, over at Papa’s place:

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.