Full Idea
Excess and deficiency are equally at fault.
Gist of Idea
Excess and deficiency are equally at fault
Source
Kongzi (Confucius) (The Analects (Lunyu) [c.511 BCE], XI.16)
Book Reference
Confucius: 'The Sayings of Confucius', ed/tr. Ware,James R. [Mentor 1955], p.72
A Reaction
This is the sort of wisdom we admire in Aristotle (and in any sensible person), but it may also be the deepest motto of conservatism, and it is a long way from romantic philosophy, and the clarion call of Nietzsche to greater excitement in life.