Prudence Quotes - Page 2

• Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.

  Democritus

  Trust, Silly, Men

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• When you have nothing to say, or to hide, there is no need to be prudent.

  Andre Gide

  Needs, Prudent

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• A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

  Roald Dahl

  Funny, Wisdom, Teacher

  Roald Dahl (2007). “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”, p.84, Penguin

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• Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.

  Euripides

  Fighting, Literature, Prudent

  "Pirithous". Play by Euripides, 5th century BCE.

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• Don't judge without having heard both sides. Even persons who think themselves virtuous very easily forget this elementary rule of prudence.

  Josemaria Escriva

  Thinking, Judging, Sides

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• Remember that nothing will supply the want of prudence, and that negligence and irregularity long continued will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible.

  Samuel Johnson

  Long, Genius, Useless

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• Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess.

  Jeremy Collier

  Excess, Ingredients, Degenerates

  Jeremy COLLIER (the Nonjuror.), J. E. (1838). “Pearls of Great Price: or, Maxims, reflections, characters and thoughts, on miscellaneous subjects ... Selected from the works of the Rev. Jeremy Collier by the editor of “Sir William Jones's Discourses,” etc. [The editor's preface signed: J. E., i.e. James Elmes.]”, p.101

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• Prudence, patience, labor, valor; these are the stars that rule the career of mortals.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Stars, Careers, Valor

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• Be prudent, and if you hear, * * * some insult or some threat, * * * have the appearance of not hearing it.

  George Sand

  Hearing, Prudent, Insult

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• The first years of man must make provision for the last.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Years, Lasts

  Samuel Johnson (2012). “Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia”, p.45, Simon and Schuster

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• Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety.

  John Ortberg

  Procrastination, Safety, Way

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• It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

  Mark Twain

  Wisdom, Country, Freedom

  Following the Equator ch. 20, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" (1897)

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• The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendor cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate.

  Samuel Johnson

  Giving, Splendor, Hours

  Samuel Johnson (1820). “The Rambler”, p.358

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• The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for the happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.

  Jonathan Swift

  Success, Congratulations, Sadness

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1814). “The Works of Jonathan Swift: Miscellaneous essays”, p.436

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• Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.

  William E. Gladstone

  Trust, Fear, People

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• There is nothing more imprudent than excessive prudence.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Literature

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• The step between prudence and paranoia is short and steep. Prudence wears a seat belt. Paranoia avoids cars. Prudence washes with soap. Paranoia avoids human contact. Prudence saves for old age. Paranoia hoards even trash. Prudence prepares and plans, paranoia panics. Prudence calculates the risk and takes the plunge. Paranoia never enters the water.

  Max Lucado

  Water, Car, Risk

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• Prudence supposes the value of the end to be assumed, and refers only to the adaptation of the means. It is the relation of right means for given ends.

  William Whewell

  Mean, Adaptation, Given

  William Whewell (1845). “The Elements of Morality, Including Polity”, p.157

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• I consider it a mark of great prudence in a man to abstain from threats or any contemptuous expressions, for neither of these weaken the enemy, but threats make him more cautious, and the other excites his hatred, and a desire to revenge himself.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Revenge, Men, Expression

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• The eye of prudence may never shut.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Eye, May

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.67, Courier Corporation

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• It is no less a feat to keep what you have, than to increase it. In one there is chance, the other will be a work of art.

  Ovid

  Art, Chance, Increase

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• Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we came and towards whom we are journeying.

  Pope Benedict XVI

  Taken, Mean, Responsibility

  Pope Benedict XVI's Message for The Celebration of The World Day of Peace, w2.vatican.va. January 1, 2008.

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• In order to try whether a vessel be leaky, we first prove it with water before we trust it with wine.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Wine, Order, Water

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.39

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• Prudence therefore consists in knowing how to distinguish degrees of disadvantage.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Knowing, Degrees, Disadvantages

  Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Moore (2010). “Machiavelli, More & Luther”, p.78, Cosimo, Inc.

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• I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Silent, Folly

  "De Oratore", III. 35, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 645-47,

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