Daedalus, a famous artist of his time, built feathered wings for himself and his son so that they might escape the clutches of King Minos.
Daedalus warns his beloved son whom he loved so much to "fly the middle course", between the sea spray and the sun's heat.
[citation needed] Proportion's relation to beauty and goodness is stressed throughout Plato's dialogues, particularly in the Republic and Philebus.
64d–65a): Socrates: That any kind of mixture that does not in some way or other possess measure of the nature of proportion will necessarily corrupt its ingredients and most of all itself.
For there would be no blending in such a case at all but really an unconnected medley, the ruin of whatever happens to be contained in it.Protarchus: Very true.Socrates: But now we notice that the force of the good has taken up refuge in an alliance with the nature of the beautiful.
As Alasdair MacIntyre observed in After Virtue, thinkers as diverse as Homer, the authors of the New Testament, Thomas Aquinas, and Benjamin Franklin have all proposed lists.
6th century BC) taught of the Middle Way, a path between the extremes of religious asceticism and worldly self-indulgence.
Adam Clarke takes the phrase "righteous over much" to mean indulging in too much "austerity and hard study," [8] and concludes that “there is no need of all this watching, fasting, praying, self-denial, etc., you carry things to extremes.
Why should you wish to be reputed singular and precise?” [9] Thus, the ideal of the golden mean may have existed as long as six hundred years before Aristotle.
The golden mean is also a core principle in Musar literature in which practitioners are encouraged to bring every character trait (middah; plural middot) into a balanced place between extremes.
Musar can be said to involve being mindful enough to bring one's character traits, thoughts and desires into a balanced state in real time; living one's life in accord with the golden mean.
The Quran states an example in finance, in that a person should not spend all he makes as not to be caught needing, and not to be stingy as to not live a comfortable life.
Islam counsels its followers to abstain from both these paths of extremities and adopt moderation in chasing the world and practicing religion alike.