He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man’s door.

[Auream quisquis mediocritatem diligit, tutus caret obsoleti sordibus tecti, caret invidenda sobrius aula.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 2, Ode 10, l.5 [tr. Cowper]

Alt trans.: "Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace."


 
Added on 13-Jun-11 | Last updated 13-Jun-11
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