Quotes about Balance

To keep a kind of republic of the spirit—that's what I call success.

The desire for symmetry, for balance, for rhythm is one of the most inveterate of human instincts." -The Decoration of Houses

Good order is the foundation of all good things.

We ought with reverence to approach that tremendous divinity, that loves courage, but commands counsel.

The only liberty that is valuable is a liberty connected with order; that not only exists along with order and virtue, but which cannot exist at all without them. It inheres in good and steady government, as in its substance and vital principle.

All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take; we remit some rights, that we may enjoy others; and we choose rather to be happy citizens than subtle disputants.

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness. What do you see in your own heart?

Fear has given birth to extreme parenting. It looks like love, but it is love mingled with fear.

When you have to manage the world, please everyone, earn more than you did last year, and work off five pounds, you will be driven. If not, you run the risk of being un-American or even un-Christian because our economy and churches rely on such people. Even when paralyzed by circumstances, a stressed person is a driven person.

If we look only at God's love, we will not need him, and there will be no urgency in the message of the cross. If we focus narrowly on God's justice, we will want to avoid him, and we will live in terror-fear, always feeling guilty and waiting for punishment.

It is normal to give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all.

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads.