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Who really said it

Be moderate in everything, including moderation

Not Socrates — a 1920s coinage Unknown — earliest documented in Wallace Rice (1927) Exact phrasing first documented 1927–28 · falsely pinned on Socrates (c. 469–399 BC)
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

Widely pinned on Socrates — and also on Oscar Wilde, Voltaire, Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin — but Quote Investigator found no substantive support for any of them. The self-cancelling twist first surfaces in the 1920s: in Wallace Rice’s Pagan Pictures (1927) and in English newspapers of 1927–28, more than two thousand years after Socrates.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Be moderate in everything, including moderation” Not Socrates — earliest documented in Wallace Rice's "Pagan Pictures" (1927); a 1920s coinage riffing on the ancient "nothing too much," per Quote Investigator.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Socrates. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

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In context

Evoking the world of Wallace Rice — American poet, editor & translator; designer of the Chicago flag. Theme: "Be moderate in everything, including moderation". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Be moderate in everything, including moderation". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where this line actually comes from

Earliest documented
“Pagan Pictures” by Wallace Rice (1927)
The verse
“Moderation,” a four-line paraphrase of the Greek Anthology
In newspapers
The Daily Mail (Hull), Dec 1927; Yale Record, 1928
Credited to Socrates?
No source — unsupported per Quote Investigator

Nothing too much, doth Chilo say? / Be moderate despite temptation? / Aye; moderate in every way / Be moderate in moderation.

Wallace Rice’s 1927 quatrain “Moderation” is the earliest documented English match. The now-standard wording — “Be moderate in everything, including moderation” — appears in the same 1927–28 window (The Daily Mail of Hull, Dec 1927; the Yale Record, 1928), with no named author.

Quote Investigator: the full chronology

The paper trail

  • Quote Investigator examined this exact saying and found “no substantive support” for crediting it to Socrates, Oscar Wilde, Voltaire, Mark Twain or Benjamin Franklin.
  • The earliest documented English match is a quatrain in Wallace Rice’s Pagan Pictures (1927), a free expansion of the Greek Anthology; the familiar wording appears in newspapers of 1927–28.
  • The underlying thought — “nothing too much” — is the ancient Delphic maxim (echoed by Hesiod and Plautus), not a line traceable to Socrates in particular.
  • It does not appear anywhere on Wikiquote’s Socrates page — not even in its Misattributed section.

The self-cancelling twist “including moderation” is an anonymous saying with no identifiable author. Its earliest documented print appearances — Wallace Rice’s Pagan Pictures and English newspapers of 1927–28 — are pre-1931 and would themselves be public domain, but no single work or author can be said to own this exact wording, so no status is asserted.

Fact-check

Who it gets pinned on

A feel-good paradox that gets attached to whichever wise name is handy. Quote Investigator ran down the usual suspects and cleared them all.

Socrates No source

The most common modern credit, but no dialogue or ancient testimonium contains it, and Quote Investigator found no substantive support. It is absent even from Wikiquote’s Socrates page.

Oscar Wilde Popular online

Widely circulated in the form “Everything in moderation, including moderation” and pinned on Wilde on Goodreads and elsewhere, but it appears in none of his works and is unsupported.

Voltaire, Mark Twain & Benjamin Franklin Unsupported

All three are floated as authors, and all three are dismissed for lack of evidence in Quote Investigator’s survey.

The earliest documented English appearances date to 1927–28 — a 20th-century witticism riffing on the ancient Delphic maxim “nothing too much,” not a line from Socrates, per Quote Investigator.

Context

Ancient idea, modern joke

The sentiment is genuinely ancient. “Nothing too much” (μηδεν αγαν) was one of the maxims inscribed at Delphi, and the value of moderation echoes through Hesiod and the Roman playwright Plautus. None of that, however, contains the self-cancelling punchline that makes the modern line memorable.

That twist — be moderate even about moderation — surfaces only in the 1920s: Wallace Rice’s 1927 quatrain and English newspapers of 1927–28. Quote-collectors later back-dated it onto Socrates, Wilde and others to lend a bit of borrowed gravitas.

Aye; moderate in every way / Be moderate in moderation.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Wisdom Simplicity

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: Be Moderate In Everything Including Moderationquoteinvestigator.com

The definitive investigation: earliest 1927 citation and a review of every famous claimant.
Wikiquote: Socratesen.wikiquote.org

Sourced and misattributed Socrates quotes — this line appears in neither section.
Wikipedia: Wallace Riceen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the Chicago poet whose 1927 Pagan Pictures holds the earliest documented verse.
Goodreads: the line credited to Oscar Wildegoodreads.com

A live example of the common (unsupported) Wilde misattribution.
Wikipedia: Socratesen.wikipedia.org

Background on the philosopher the quote is most often, and wrongly, assigned to.

Earliest documented source

The poet, not the philosopher

Wallace Rice

1859–1939 · American poet, editor & translator; designer of the Chicago flag

Wallace deGroot Cecil Rice (1859–1939) was a Chicago writer, editor and translator who produced more than ninety books and, in 1917, designed the municipal flag of Chicago. His 1927 collection Pagan Pictures freely reworked the Greek Anthology; its poem “Moderation” is the earliest documented English source of the ‘moderate in moderation’ conceit. Whether Rice coined the exact popular wording or merely versified a quip already circulating is unresolved — but it plainly is not Socrates.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented source

Wallace Rice, “Moderation,” in Pagan Pictures: Freely Translated and Fully Expanded from the Greek Anthology & the Greek Lyrical Poets (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1927). Earliest documented English match; see Garson O’Toole, “Be Moderate In Everything Including Moderation,” Quote Investigator, 13 May 2022.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Be moderate in everything, including moderation’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/be-moderate-in-everything-including-moderation

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