A Quote by Edmund Burke

If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts.

Edmund Burke

Quote Topics

Circumstances Decorum Dictates Higher Justify May Order Others Our Our Thoughts Prudence Reserve Silence Some Speaking Thoughts Us

Quote Author

Edmund Burke
Irish - Statesman
January 12, 1729 - July 9, 1797

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

[Prudence] is the virtue of that part of the intellect [the calculative] to which it belongs; and . . . our choice of actions will not be right without Prudence any more than without Moral Virtue, since, while Moral Virtue enables us to achieve the end, Prudence makes us adopt the right means to the end.

Aristotle

There are some who wish to learn for no other reason than that they may be looked upon as learned, which is ridiculous vanity ... Others desire to learn that they may morally instruct others, that is love. And, lastly, there are some who wish to learn that they may be themselves edified; and that is prudence.

Bernard of Clairvaux

The less prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we should conduct our own affairs.

Warren Buffett

O tyrant love, when held by you, We may to prudence bid adieu. [Fr., Amour! Amour! quand tu nous tiens On peut bien dire, Adieu, prudence.]

Jean de La Fontaine

Imprudence relies on luck, prudence on method. That gives prudence less edge than it expects.

Mason Cooley

Nothing more enhances authority than silence. It is the crowning virtue of the strong, the refuge of the weak, the modesty of the proud, the pride of the humble, the prudence of the wise, and the sense of fools. To speak is to . . . dissipate one's strength; whereas what action demands is concentration. Silence is a necessary preliminary to the ordering of one's thoughts.

Charles de Gaulle

Swift calls discretion low prudence; it is high prudence, and one of the most important elements entering into either social or political life.

Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Prudence dictates that there should be a balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.

Lee Kuan Yew

Silence is the sanctuary of prudence.

Baltasar Gracian

Spurious prudence, making the senses final, is the god of sots and cowards, and is the subject of all comedy. It is nature's joke, and therefore literature's. True prudence limits this sensualism by admitting the knowledge of an internal and real world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are sending out thoughts of greater or less intensity all the time, and we are reaping the results of such thoughts. Not only do our thought-waves influence ourselves and others, but they have a drawing power - they attract to us the thoughts of others, things, circumstances, people, 'luck', in accord with the character of the thought uppermost in our minds.