Definitions: (1) moderate indulgence in or use of substance, speech, or action; self-controlled; (2) even management of passion and feelings; patient; calm; cool; (3) in proper proportion; balanced
Compatible Quality: Self-control (No flying off the handle.)
Familial Qualities: symmetrical, synergistic
Quote: Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence, and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know. — Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) Church of England professor, social reformer, & historian
Comments:
• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all extolled a common set of cardinal virtues. Shared by all of them were: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance.
• There is a time component to temperance. All of the good things of life need not be crammed into the shortest time (or even one life). There is value in savoring the moment.
Symbols: 1) a beach; 2) the number fourteen
Fictional Figure: Sir Guyon, a knight, is the personification of temperance and self-restraint. — Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) Faërie Queene {1590}