Origin
The phrase has classical Greek roots, not biblical ones.
The Delphic maxim
Two short Greek phrases were inscribed at the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in classical antiquity:
- gnōthi seauton (γνῶθι σεαυτόν) — “know thyself”
- mēden agan (μηδὲν ἄγαν) — “nothing in excess”
Both are conventionally attributed to one or another of the Seven Sages of Greece (a list that includes Solon, Chilon, Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, Periander, and Thales, though the membership of the list varies in ancient sources). The maxims were widely cited in classical Greek literature as proverbial wisdom.
Mēden agan is the conceptual root of “everything in moderation.” It is not the Bible.
Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean
The Greek philosophical tradition developed the maxim into a fuller ethical framework, most influentially in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (4th century BC). Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean (to meson) holds that virtue is the mean between two extremes — courage between cowardice and recklessness, generosity between stinginess and prodigality, and so on. The doctrine applies the Delphic maxim systematically across the moral life.
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics was widely read in late antiquity and the medieval period. Christian thinkers — notably Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century — christianised the doctrine of the mean within Christian ethics. This is how a classical Greek philosophical principle became part of Western Christian moral vocabulary.
The exact phrase “moderation in all things” or “everything in moderation” appears in classical Latin authors. Petronius’s Satyricon (1st century AD) contains a closely related saying. The phrase entered English through the classical and medieval philosophical tradition rather than through the Bible.
Why the misattribution persists
Christian moral teaching from the patristic period absorbed substantial portions of classical ethics. Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, and other early Christian writers were trained in classical rhetoric and philosophy and used classical maxims freely in their work. Over time, what began as Christian use of classical ethical maxims slid into the assumption that the maxims were themselves Christian — and from there, in popular reception, that they were biblical.
“Moderation in all things” is one of those phrases. It is genuinely consonant with parts of biblical ethics (the Pauline language about self-control, for instance). But the phrase itself is from Delphi via Aristotle via Petronius, not from the Bible.
What the Bible says on this theme
The Bible’s vocabulary in this area uses different language. Rather than “moderation,” the Pauline letters use:
- enkrateia (ἐγκράτεια) — self-control, mastery of one’s passions. Listed as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:23.
- sōphrōn (σώφρων) — sound-minded, self-controlled, sober-minded. Used in 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:8.
- epieikēs (ἐπιεικής) — gentleness, reasonableness, forbearance. Used in Philippians 4:5.
These are different concepts from the Aristotelian mean. Enkrateia is mastery of desire; the Aristotelian mean is balance between extremes. Sōphrōn is sound-mindedness; the doctrine of the mean is a structural ethical framework. The biblical vocabulary and the Greek philosophical vocabulary overlap in some applications but are not the same.
For the related entry on the love of money — another place where “moderation” gets attached to a biblical text in popular usage — see our entry on 1 Timothy 6:10.
Why this entry exists
The conflation of classical ethics with biblical teaching in popular Western Christian usage is widespread. “Moderation in all things” is one of the cleanest examples — a phrase nearly everyone has heard, attributed by many to the Bible, traceable in fact to Delphi and Aristotle. Documenting the origin is part of separating biblical text from the broader Western moral tradition that has absorbed it.