15 Quotes About Finding Moderation and Balance

Most of us know how important it is to eat well, exercise and otherwise take good care of our bodies. However, there’s a fine line between doing those things in appropriate amounts and going overboard to the point of unhealthy excess or a lack.

For example, going to the gym regularly is usually a good thing, but if you work out so frequently your body doesn’t have enough time to recover between visits, you’re putting yourself at risk for injuries. The same could be said for eating a sensible diet.

Nutritious foods should be a part of your everyday routine, but that doesn’t mean suddenly depriving yourself of all the things you used to love to eat that aren’t very healthy. Having a healthy lifestyle involves understanding moderation and balance, and then applying those principles naturally to your life.

Signs You Don’t Have a Healthy Understanding of Moderation and Balance

There are several telltale signs you don’t have enough moderation and balance in your life. Some of them become most apparent in relation to your associations with dieting and losing weight. During cravings, you may overindulge in foods you know aren’t healthy, or in contrast, you might start making excuses to avoid eating all together.

There also might be times you go through random periods where you try to adhere to a healthy diet, but you find you only succeed for a week or two before going back to old habits.

As you’ll see from the quotes below, people have sought to achieve balance throughout the ages. The relevant advice remains timeless, and hopefully you’ll find their words encouraging as you seek to achieve healthier amounts of balance and moderation in your life.

Greek Philosopher Epicurus on Moderation and Experiencing Joys

With this quote, Epicurus warns failing to have moderation in life means we may rob ourselves of life’s joys: “Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne on Keeping a Balance While Learning

Nathaniel Hawthorne believed when people are too focused on the thing they feel is “right,” they may miss out on things they learn by doing things that feel “wrong” at the time:

“We go all wrong by too strenuous a resolution to go right.”

John Paul Richter on How Moderation Gives Life Its Charm

Here, John Paul Richter warns that we may lead charmless lives without moderation: “Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it charm.”

Marcus Tulius Cicero on Pursuing Things With a Balanced Calmness

Some quotes about balance keep us focused when going after things we desperately want. In those times, it’s difficult to keep a balanced mindset, although writer Marcus Tulius Cicero teaches: “The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.”

Peter Latham on Moderation in Our Possessions

As Peter Latham says, we must remember to strike a balance between the amount of things we have, and what we can actually use. This quote may be useful if, for instance, you find yourself stocking up on too much fresh produce at the farmer’s market and can’t use it all before it spoils:

“Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use.”

François de La Rochefoucauld Speaks of Moderation as a Character Trait

Here, this French writer views moderation as a positive character trait: “Moderation is an ostentatious proof of our strength of character.”

Thomas Kinkade on Balance as One Aspect of a Successful Life

You’ll frequently find quotes about balance that mention it as one of many attributes of a prosperous life. In this example, artist Thomas Kinkade names it among several results of a successful life, and he doesn’t forget to mention service to others: “Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others with them.”

Libba Bray on the Struggle to Keep a Balance

Libba Bray eloquently describes the polar opposites inside every human, urging practicing self forgiveness when having difficulty achieving balance: “In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We’ve got to forgive ourselves that. I must remember to forgive myself. Because there is a lot of grey to work with. No one can live in the light all the time.”

Writer Jessica Lowndes on Keeping a Moderate Diet

As Jessica Lowndes states, moderation is preferable to deprivation: “I live a healthy lifestyle and I crave healthy food. I love porridge — I have bizarre cravings for it. I love it with brown sugar and bananas, and I’m a huge fan of cinnamon — I put cinnamon on everything. I also have a sweet tooth and I don’t like to deprive myself. I think everything in moderation is the key.”

Brandon Sanderson on Balance as a Process

It’s possible to find a balance between who we are and who we want to be, but the process starts with self love, Brandon Sanderson says:

“Somehow, we’ll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.”

Hippocrates About Using Our Bodies Properly

Speaking as one of the early Greek physicians, Hippocrates reminds us about moderation for our bodies: “All parts of the body which have a function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors in which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy, well developed and age more slowly, but if unused they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly.”

Jessye Norman on Balancing Self Care and Helping Others

It can be difficult to practice enough self care while indulging a desire to serve others. Jessye Norman identifies this as a constant battle: “Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.”

Deepak Chopra on the Body’s Natural Ability to Restore Balance

This encouraging Deepak Chopra quote speaks to the body’s natural resilience:

“No matter how much it gets abused, the body can restore balance. The first rule is to stop interfering with nature.”

Catherine Pulsifer on Showing a Balanced Self at Home and Work

It can be difficult to achieve healthy consistency between who we are at home and work, but Catherine Pulsifer says to avoid confusion and stay true to ourselves, we must make the effort: “The consistency in your person from home to work is vitally important so that you are in total balance at all times. Being out of balance means that your true self will start to be confused with what you pretend to be.”

Gary Keller About Balancing Our Priorities

Gary Keller discusses that while some things we put our energies toward are flexible, other parts of our life are more fragile, and so we must keep our priorities in order to enjoy healthy lives and nurture the people we care about: “Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls — family, health, friends, integrity — are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.”

In closing, remember that bringing better balance and more moderation into your life won’t happen overnight. Adding both attributes is a learning process that requires a willingness to change and a humble knowledge that even with the best of intentions, you’ll sometimes make mistakes along the path of changing your life for the better.