Nothing is good in moderation. You cannot know good in anything until you have torn the heart out of it by excess.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

Moderation is a fatal thing: nothing succeeds like excess.

Moderation is a fatal thing. . . . Nothing succeeds like excess.

If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.

Once one becomes a man, he can and must make his own decisions. But I do offer warning. Even a good thing can become destructive if taken to excess.