Week 2022-29: On Extremes (Quotes)

So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind;
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; 
Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness; 
Sometimes one is up and sometimes down. 
Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 5th century BC)

"Let him know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible, not only in this life but in all that which is to come. [...] For this is the way of happiness." (Plato, "The Republic", cca. 375 BC)

"Both Self-restraint and Unrestraint are a matter of extremes as compared with the character of the mass of mankind; the restrained man shows more and the unrestrained man less steadfastness than most men are capable of." (Aristotle, "The Nicomachean Ethics", 4th century)

"Education and study, and the favors of the muses, confer no greater benefit on those that seek them than these humanizing and civilizing lessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations prescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes." (Plutarch, "Plutarch's Lives", 2nd century)

"Our senses will not admit anything extreme. Too much noise confuses us, too much light dazzles us, too great distance or nearness prevents vision, too great prolixity or brevity weakens an argument, too much pleasure gives pain, too much accordance annoys." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones, but by contrary extreme positions." (Friedrich Nietzsche, "The Will to Power", 1901)

"The mind can go either direction under stress - toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Sanity lies somewhere between the inhibitions of conventional morality and the looseness of the extreme impulse." (Chögyam Trungpa, "The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation", 1976)

"In extreme situations, the entire universe becomes our foe; at such critical times, unity of mind and technique is essential - do not let your heart waver!" (Morihei Ueshiba, "The Art of Peace", 1991)

"The middle way cannot be achieved by dividing two extremes in half." (Eric Maisel, "Affirmations for Artists", 1996)

"A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday existence." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], "The Art of Happiness", 1998)

"To hope under the most extreme circumstances is an act of defiance that permits a person to live his life on his own terms. It is part of the human spirit to endure and give a miracle a chance to happen." (Jerome Groopman, "The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness", 2003)