It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

Proportion is the whole of the advice: enjoy a life’s pleasures enough that you are not left longing for what you never let yourself have, and not so greedily that none of it was really tasted. It describes a way of living rather than a verdict on how anyone’s life ended, and many people are called from the table early through no failing of their own. What it recommends is appetite without grasping. It also assumes the banquet was meant to be enjoyed.

Ask which side you err on. If you deny yourself steadily, take one thing you have been withholding. If you overreach, practise leaving something on the table while it is still good, and notice that the stopping preserves the pleasure.