Prudence

“ Definition.—All the definitions of prudence are in substantial agreement, and from them we may formulate a detailed definition as follows: “Prudence is the virtue that consults well about the means to be used for leading a good life and applies the knowledge acquired through consultation to particular contingencies as they arise.” ”

“ Prudence is an eminent virtue. I speak of that noble prudence that is the moderation in all things, the foresight, the fitness, that preserve at once from negligence and that rashness which adorns itself with the name of heroism, as cowardice and selfishness sometimes usurp the name of prudence. ”

“ The integral parts of prudence, considered as an operative or a preceptive virtue—that is, as the counsellor and director of life and behavior—are the acts without which one cannot make good use of knowledge as applied to conduct. ”

“ Must we invert the known rule of prudence, and choose to associate ourselves with the distressed? or, allowing that we ought, so far as it is in our power to relieve them, yet is it not better to do this from reason and duty? Does not passion and affection of every kind perpetually mislead us? ”

“ I cannot praise such men when prudence led them to spare their victims’ lives with a view to further sufferings another day. Nevertheless, other things being equal, prudence is a part of the good life. ”

“ Moral reasoning, and the habit of acting in consequence of the conviction of the judgment, we call prudence; a virtue of so much consequence to all the other virtues; a virtue of so much consequence to ourselves and to our friends, that it surely merits a whole chapter to itself in Practical Education. ”

“ We are warned, and without being hypnotised, regularly discover that the warning is justified. Certain properties are sure to express themselves: coldness, prudence, hardness, calm consideration, greed, are just as indubitable in the hand as kindness, frankness, gentleness, and honesty. ”

“ Now I breathe the word of the prudence that walks abreast with time, space, reality, That answers the pride which refuses every lesson but its own. 13. What is prudence, is indivisible,
Declines to separate one part of life from every part. ”

“ My prudence consists in avoiding and going without, not in the inventing of means and methods, not in adroit steering, not in gentle repairing. I have no skill to make money spend well, no genius in my economy, and whoever sees my garden discovers that I must have some other garden. Yet I love facts, and hate lubricity, and people without perception. Then I have the same title to write on prudence, that I have to write on poetry or holiness. We write from aspiration and antagonism, as well as from experience. We paint those qualities which we do not possess. ”

“ Look to the affairs of the world, to the nations and governments of all the earth, and tell me, where is anything turning out according to the forethought and prudence of man?
Look to the movements of our own country, and say whether human prudence ever devised what we behold? What party or what individuals have ever, in the long run, brought things about as they expected? ”

“ If God is for us, who shall be against us? For thou wilt not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but wilt make, with the temptation, issue.
VII. PRUDENCE.
But deliver us from evil. Amen.
He who is governed by prudence, which is the right rule of all conduct, will easily escape all evil. Give me, therefore, O Lord, this virtue, that whatever I do, I may do prudently, and in all things look to the end. For where prudence presides, even evils work together for good; but where it is absent, even virtues degenerate into vices. ”

“ Wise and judicious conduct, when directed to greater and nobler purposes than the care of the health, the fortune, the rank and reputation of the individual, is frequently and very properly called prudence. We talk of the prudence of the great general, of the great statesman, of the great legislator. Prudence is, in all these cases, combined with many greater and more splendid virtues, with valour, with extensive and strong benevolence, with a sacred regard to the rules of justice, and all these supported by a proper degree of self-command. ”

“ The action of Prudence is to make a proper choice; of Justice to do what is good and right; of Temperance not to be hampered by pleasures; Fortitude is not to desert our duty for any pain or hardship. ”

“ But while prudence was a factor in my general settlement, the main factor was, as I have said, conscience. Not the narrow conscientiousness of ordinary men, which is three parts ignorance, two parts cowardice, and five parts envy—for is it not usually roused only when the acts of others are to be judged? ”

“ It is a melancholy truth that we ourselves manufacture seven eighths of what we are disposed to term our misfortunes in this world. Want of precaution mars our arrangements: want of prudence exposes us to dangers which we might easily have avoided—want of patience often hurries us into difficulties, and disqualifies us to bear them with calmness or decency. ”

“ Principles, in act and procession, disjoined from which, and from the emotions that inevitably accompany the actual intuition of their truth, the widest maxims of prudence are like arms without hearts, muscles without nerves. ”

“ Is it not a strange system which sets prudence against prudence? Compare this with the Law of Conscience—Is it not its specific character to be immediate, positive, unalterable? In short, a priori, state the requisites of a moral guide, and apply them first to prudence, and then to the law of pure reason or conscience, and ask if we need fear the result if the Judge is pure from all bribes and prejudices.
What then are the real dictates of prudence as drawn from every man's experience in late [292] manhood, and so lured from the intoxication of youth, hope, and love? ”

“ Prudence.—From the faculty of judging and having an opinion about things, let us pass on to the third quality of the mind, namely: prudence, which consists, as Aristotle informs us, in deliberating well before doing anything, and which is the art of well discerning our interest in the things concerning us, and the interest of others in the things concerning them. ”

“ There is a courageous wisdom: there is also a false, reptile prudence, the result, not of caution, but of fear. ”

“ And first, there is the career of honesty and worldly prudence, which makes the duty of the citizen. Secondly, there is the progress in purity which casts earthly things behind, and reaches the angelic height of passionless serenity. ”

“ But for my part, I have always found it human prudence to prevent the mind, or soul, or other parts invisible, from conspiracy to outgo, what I can see, and feel, and manage, and be punished for not heeding—that is to say, my body. ”

“ The lessons of prudence have charms,
And slighted, may lead to distress;
But the man whom benevolence warms,
Is an angel who lives but to bless. ”

“ As prudence consists primarily in a dictate which applies the reason’s knowledge to the control of will and conduct, this virtue is corrupted chiefly by passion. We see that those who are swayed by pleasure or pain lose sight of the true motive of choice and action, and do not issue to themselves the order which prudence and their better judgment inspire. ”

“ Prudence is chiefly concerned about the spiritual, but its concern is not excessive; solicitude for temporal things or for the morrow is more anxious about the things of this world, or is unduly anxious about spiritual things.
1675. The prudence whose end is bad is the sin of those Who counsel, judge, and direct well as to the means for securing temporal goods which they have made the supreme purpose of their lives. ”

“ Generally speaking, prudence, or the habit of attending to future consequences, is a virtue seldom acquired in any great degree of perfection until late in life. It is the result of long observation and repeated experience. ”

“ And how abundantly is the wisdom of God displayed, even in this certain course of the moon, and distinction of seasons! In all states and conditions, the chief part of prudence is to preserve good order, and to observe the proper opportunities of acting; these are the distinguishing accomplishments of a wise ruler, and of a prudent head of a family. This, indeed, is the principal thing to be regarded in every action; he that acts unseasonably, acts to little or no purpose. ”

“ These are the ifs and the buts, which I shall continue to introduce, not the insidious and confounding subtleties of special pleading, but the just and necessary distinctions of intelligible prudence; I am conscious of sincere and honest intentions in the use of them, and I desire to be tried by no other than God and my country. But are we not weakening ourselves? ”

“ Nay, then, my Lord, 'tis time for me to observe the laws of prudence.
Lord Town. I wish I could see an instance of it.
Lady Town. You shall have one this moment, my Lord; for I think, when a man begins to lose his temper at home; if a woman has any prudence, why——she'll go abroad 'till he comes to himself again. ”

“ The benefit of wisdom and consideration: A prudent man, by the help of his prudence, will foresee an evil, before it comes, and hide himself; he will be aware when he is entering into a temptation and will put on his armour and stand on his guard. ”

“ The rules of prudence in general, like the laws of the stone tables, are for the most part prohibitive. Thou shalt not is their characteristic formula: and it is an especial part of Christian prudence that it should be so. ”

“ What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not one's own is. ii. By his own prudence man persuades himself and confirms in himself that all good and truth are from him and in him; similarly all evil and falsity. iii. All that a man is persuaded of and confirms remains with him as his own. ”

“ On the other hand prudence is differentiated from the moral virtues according to a formal aspect distinctive of powers, i.e. the intellective power, wherein is prudence, and the appetitive power, wherein is moral virtue. Hence it is evident that prudence is a special virtue, distinct from all other virtues. ”

“ As a constant habit in him, a permanent tone of character, it is convenient to call him prudent in abstraction from any one of his acts, prudent in general and without specification, and to say the acts follow from the pre-existing prudence. There are peculiarities in his psycho-physical system that make him act prudently; and there are tendencies to association in our thoughts that prompt some of them to make for truth and others for error. But would the man be prudent in the absence of each and all of the acts? ”

“ XXV. The prudence of the men, may be balanced by the simplicity or gentleness of the women; and I was even about to say more than balanced, for, in reality, simplicity or gentleness, is more beneficial to the human race, than the prudence of all its individuals; for nobody has ever described the golden age as composed of prudent, but of candid men. ”

“ The eye of prudence may never shut. ”

“ And while, on the one hand, he steadily pursues the track which prudence marks out; and, on the other, listens with respectful attention to the dictates of honor and probity, he may, without danger of enthusiasm, ask and hope for the especial aids of Divine Providence, in overruling those events that lie beyond the reach of human agency. ”

“ It is easy to fix the eye upon the clouds in expectation of help front above with so much intentness that the tables of right and wrong, which stand before us, shall scarcely be seen. This very expectation is a contempt of prudence; and it is not often seen that those who slight Prudence, pay much regard to her sister—Probity. ”

“ I do not, although it is indispensably necessary, comprehend in this catalogue of requisites the virtue of prudence, because every one fancies he possesses it; but, if a man mistakes in this particular, I judge his error to be incurable. ”

“ The general rules of almost all the virtues, the general rules which 154 determine what are the offices of prudence, of charity, of generosity, of gratitude, of friendship, are in many respects loose and inaccurate, admit of many exceptions, and require so many modifications, that it is scarce possible to regulate our conduct entirely by a regard to them. The common proverbial maxims of prudence, being founded in universal experience, are perhaps the best general rules which can be given about it. ”

“ Human prudence should be avoided as well as intemperate zeal; this kind of prudence consists in a man's being careful not to bring himself into trouble, and not to hazard his reputation, credit, interest, or fortune, in the performance of his duty. ”

“ Yes, when prudence dictates Sí, cuando la prudencia es la our actions; but when we regla de nuestras acciones; will appear what we are mas cuando queremos parecer not, others suffer for it. lo que no somos, otros sufren por ello. ”

“ IX. Prudence is exceeding necessary in doing good, that you may discern good from evil, discerning the season, and measure, and manner, and among divers duties, which must be preferred.—Therefore labour much for wisdom, and if you want it yourself, be sure to make use of theirs that have it, and ask their counsel in every great and difficult case. ”

“ Another difficulty of greater import, is that prudence does not represent a special virtue, but is nothing more than a common name given to several particular virtues. Thus, prudence being defined “the discernment between the useful and the hurtful,” it may be said that discernment, in point of sensual pleasures, will be called moderation or temperance; in point of riches, economy; that true courage holding the mean between temerity and cowardice, is necessarily accompanied by prudence; we have seen that science itself must learn how to keep within bounds, and this also is a sort of prudence. ”

“ It would be true wisdom in all such repellent natures to keep apart. Worldly prudence, and the conventional rules of society, compel persons to hide these secret antipathies—nay, even to present the most smiling exterior to those whom they often least respect. ”