Richard Whately Quotes

A prudent man should neglect no circumstances.

Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.

I have to stop and think about everything I do. I'm very calculated in a lot of ways.

Cheating is a sin, but honest cunning is simply prudence. It is a virtue. To be sure, it has a likeness to roguery, but that cannot be helped. He who has not learned to practice it is a fool.

If you live cautiously, your friends will call you wise. You just won't move many mountains

To me, it's obvious that the winner has to bet very selectively. It's been obvious to me since very early in life. I don't know why it's not obvious to very many other people.

Weigh the situation, then move.

Everywhere you turn you see Americans sacrifice their long-term interests for a short-term reward.

It is true of course, that I have a will of iron, but it can be switched off if the circumstances seem to demand it.

Maturity is many things. It is the ability to base a judgment on the big picture, the long haul.

There is nothing more difficult than tactical maneuvering. The difficult consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.

Sometimes the only way you can win is to stay out of the game.

Planning for the future without a sense of history is like planting cut flowers.

One way to define wisdom is the ability to see, into the future, the consequences of your choices in the present. That ability can give you a completely different perspective on what the future might look like.

Prudence is the virtue by which we discern what is proper to do under various circumstances in time and place.

We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks.

A successful villain should have all these things at his or her villainous fingertips, or else give up villainy altogether and try to lead a life of decency, integrity, and kindness, which is much more challenging and noble, if not always quite as exciting.

To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation.

A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances.

One Man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning than every body else.

Cunning differs from wisdom as twilight from open day.

When schemes are laid in advance, it is surprising how often the circumstances will fit in with them.

A brilliant man would find a way not to fight a war.

The wiser a man is, it seems to me, the more vividly he can see the future as part of the evolving present. He doesn't break the flow of life, he directs it, hastens it, but preserves its continuity.