Quotes
Quotes about Extremes
Heard so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battle.
A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,
Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air
Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire.
Thither by harpy-footed Furies hal'd,
At certain revolutions all the damn'd
Are brought, and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes,--extremes by change more fierce;
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round,
Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.
Extremes in nature equal ends produce;
In man they join to some mysterious use.
Extremes in Nature equal good produce;
Extremes in man concur to general use.
Love is that orbit of the restless soul
Whose circle grazes the confines of space,
Bounding within the limits of its race
Utmost extremes.
People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
In conversation avoid the extremes of forwardness and reserve.
Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.
All evils are equal when they are extreme. [Fr., Et tous maux sont pareils alors qu'ils sont extremes.]
Extremes, though contrary, have the like effects. Extreme heat kills, and so extreme cold: extreme love breeds satiety, and so extreme hatred; and too violent rigor tempts chastity, as does too much license.
Extremes meet and there is no better example than the haughtiness of humility.
To be what no one ever was, To be what everyone has been: Freedom is the mean of those Extremes that fence all effort in.
There is an important difference between love and friendship. While the former delights in extremes and opposites, the latter demands equality.
The wise man does not permit himself to set up even in his own mind any comparisons of his friends. His friendship is capable of going to extremes with many people, evoked as it is by many qualities.
Some people think that meditation takes time away from physical accomplishment. Taken to extremes, of course, that's true. Most people, however, find that meditation creates more time than it takes.
In this world of extremes, we can only love too little.
Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.
However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial consequences. It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.
To be what no one ever was, to be what everyone has been: Freedom is the mean of those extremes that fence all effort in.
All extremes does perfect reason flee, And wishes to be wise quite soberly. [Fr., La parfaite raison fuit toute extremite, Et veut que l'on soit sage avec sobriete.]
To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.
His voice no touch of harmony admits, Irregularly deep, and shrill by fits. The two extremes appear like man and wife Coupled together for the sake of strife.
Wit is the clash and reconcilement of incongruities; the meeting of extremes round a corner.
