Temper all your works with moderation, that is to say, all your abstinence, your fasting, your vigils, and your prayers, for temperance sustains your body and soul with the proper measure, lest they fail.

Temper all your works with moderation, that is to say, all your abstinence, your fasting, your vigils, and your prayers, for temperance sustains your body and soul with the proper measure, lest they fail. It reminds an honourable person that they are ashes and shall return to ashes.

ST HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
FROM THE LETTERS OF HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, TRANS. JOSEPH L. BAIRD AND RADD K. Ehrman (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004)

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