Discretion Quotes - Page 3

• Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing.

  St. Catherine of Siena

  Love, Christian, Light

  St. Catherine of Siena (2010). “The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena: A Conversation with God on Living Your Spiritual Life to the Fullest”, p.49, TAN Books

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• At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool.

  Menander

  Play, Fool, Should

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• Silence, as someone has said, is the mother of prayer and the nurse of holy thoughts. Silence cuts down on our sins, doesn't it? We can't be sinning in so many different ways if we are being quiet before God. Silence nourishes patience, charity, discretion.

  Elisabeth Elliot

  Mother, Prayer, Cutting

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• Though a man has all other perfections, and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life.

  Joseph Addison

  Men, Perfection, World

  Joseph Addison (1837). “The Works of Joseph Addison: The Spectator, no. 1-314”, p.329

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• The greatest parts, without discretion as observed by an elegant writer, may be fatal to their owner; as Polyphemus, deprived of his eyes, was only the more exposed on account of his enormous strength and stature.

  Joseph Addison

  Eye, May, Polyphemus

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• It is the custom of the Roman Church which I unworthily serve with the help of God, to tolerate some things, to turn a blind eye to some, following the spirit of discretion rather than the rigid letter of the law.

  Pope Gregory VII

  Eye, Law, Church

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• If there's one thing I don't look for in a maid, it's discretion. Except with my own secrets, of course.

  Julian Fellowes

  Secret, Looks, Maids

  "Gosford Park". www.imdb.com. 2001.

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• So long as the laws remain such as they are today, employ some discretion: loud opinion forces us to do so; but in privacy and silence let us compensate ourselves for that cruel chastity we are obliged to display in public.

  Marquis de Sade

  Law, Long, Silence

  Marquis de Sade “Philosophy in the Bedroom: An Erotic Novel”, Library of Alexandria

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• Without discretion, people may be overlaid with unreasonable affection, and choked with too much nourishment.

  Jeremy Collier

  People, May, Too Much

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• By placing discretion in the hands of an official to grant or deny a license, such a statute creates a threat of censorship that by its very existence chills free speech.

  Harry A. Blackmun

  Hands, Ethos, Speech

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• I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Peace, War, People

  Letter to William Charles Jarvis, 28 Sept. 1820

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• He who fights and runs away
  May live to fight another day.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Running, Fighting, May

  Oliver Goldsmith (1900*). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: The life of Oliver Goldsmith”

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• If you tell someone a secret, and ask them to keep it secret, you are asking them to display a discretion you are unable to display yourself.

  Jill Paton Walsh

  Secret, Asking, Asks

  Jill Paton Walsh (2011). “The Attenbury Emeralds: The New Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery”, p.98, Macmillan

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• Discretion is nothing other than the sense of justice with respect to the sphere of the intimate contents of life.

  Georg Simmel

  Respect, Justice, Spheres

  Georg Simmel (2008). “Englischsprachige Veröffentlichungen: 1893 - 1910”

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• A sound discretion is not so much indicated by never making a mistake as by never repeating it.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Mistake, Sound, Literature

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• Cowardice is not synonymous with prudence. It often happens that the better part of discretion is valor.

  William Hazlitt

  Cowardice, Valor, Prudence

  William Hazlitt, William Ernest Henley (1902). “The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Memoirs of Thomas Holcroft. Liber amoris. Characteristics”

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• Zeal should not outrun discretion.

  Aesop

  Should, Zeal, Outrun

  Aesop (2016). “Aesop's Fables - Complete Collection”, p.17, Lulu.com

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• Silence, when nothing need be said, is the eloquence of discretion.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Silence, Needs, Said

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• Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Fool, Sometimes, Wit

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• I have tales to tell, but I don't tell them. Discretion. Discretion.

  Gregory Peck

  Tales, Tact

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• Repeat nothing - absolutely nothing - that is told you in confidence. There is no such thing as telling just one person.

  Lois Wyse

  Persons, Repeats, Absolutely Nothing

  Lois Wyse (1984). “The Six-Figure Woman and How to Be One”, Fawcett Books

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• A man with great talents, but void of discretion, is like Polyphemus in the fable, strong and blind, endued with an irresistible force, which for want of sight is of no use to him.

  Joseph Addison

  Strong, Men, Sight

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator”, p.130

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• Discretion, like the hole in a doughnut, does not exist except as an area left open by a surrounding belt of restriction. It is therefore a relative concept. It always makes sense to ask, "Discretion under which standards?" or "Discretion as to which authority?

  Ronald Dworkin

  Doe, Authority, Holes

  Ronald Dworkin (2013). “Taking Rights Seriously”, p.48, A&C Black

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• One can pass on responsibility, but not the discretion that goes with it.

  Benvenuto Cellini

  Responsibility

  Benvenuto Cellini (1956). “The Autobiography”

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• Understand that wisdom is higher than intellect and discretion is higher than debating.

  Nirmala Srivastava

  Love, Wisdom, Yoga

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