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[13]
Maxims should also be used even when contrary
to the most popular sayings, such as “Know thyself” and
“Nothing in excess,” either when one's character is thereby
likely to appear better, or if they are expressed in the language of passion. It
would be an instance of the latter if a man in a rage were to say, “It
is not true that a man should know himself; at any rate, such a man as this, if
he had known himself, would never have claimed the chief command.” And
one's character would appear better, if one were to say that it is not right, as
men say, to love as if one were bound to hate, but rather to hate as if one were
bound to love.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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