Temperance is not a feeling but a capacity, that is a virtue.
It is the virtue that surpasses all kinds of drunkenness, being the opposite of the unruliness of the senses.
It is not a question of not enjoying, or of enjoying as little as possible, but of enjoying better.
It is an enlightened taste, restrained, cultivated. It is free pleasure and therefore greater pleasure because it takes pleasure in its freedom.
To be temperate is to be content with little, but what matters is not that little, but the power and the contentment. The infinitude of desires vows us to scarcity, dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
It is not a virtue of exception, like courage, but a humble virtue, of rule and condiment.
Temperance intensifies pleasure when present and takes its turn when absent.