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S. Austin Allibone, comp. Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay. 1880.

Discretion

If we look into communities and divisions of men, we observe that the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, guides the conversation, and gives measures to society.

Joseph Addison.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to win all the duties of life.

Joseph Addison.

I do not contend against the advantages of distrust. In the world we live in it is but too necessary. Some of old called it the very sinews of discretion. But what signify commonplaces that always run parallel and equal? Distrust is good, or it is bad, according to our position and our purpose. Distrust is a defensive principle. They who have much to lose have much to fear.

Edmund Burke: On the Polity of the Allies.

The greatest parts, without discretion, may be fatal to their owner.

There is no talent so useful towards rising in the world, or which puts men more out of the reach of fortune, than discretion, a species of lower prudence.

Jonathan Swift.