Circumspection Quotes

• Circumspection and caution are part of wisdom.

  Edmund Burke

  Life, Caution

  Edmund Burke (1811). “Maxims and opinions, moral, political and economical, with characters, from the works of ... Edmund Burke”, p.80

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• By playing at Chess then, we may learn: First: Foresight... Second: Circumspection... Third: Caution...And lastly, we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources

  Benjamin Franklin

  Secret, May, Playing Chess

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• Sustaining silence and circumspection are two behaviors that lead to better, healthier outcomes. They are powerful without dominating.

  Judith Orloff

  Powerful, Two, Silence

  "7 Habits Of Surrendered People". omtimes.com. April 06, 2014.

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• The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.

  Samuel Adams

  Perseverance, Fortitude, Deliberation

  Samuel Adams (1906). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1770-1773”

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• I do not comprehend those rules of conduct that make us so content with self and so cold to those we love. I detest prudence, I even hate (suffer me to say so) those duties of friendship which substitute propriety for interest, and circumspection for feeling. How shall I say it? I love the abandonment to impulse, I act from impulse only, and I love to madness that others do the same by me.

  Jeanne Julie Eleonore de Lespinasse

  Hate, Self, Feelings

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• Good moral character is the first essential in a man.

  George Washington

  Character, Men, Essentials

  George Washington (1855). “Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious”, p.314

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• courage isn't simply a matter of leading charges: sometimes it consists in speaking up, sometimes in stoic silence, sometimes in forging ahead, sometimes in circumspection, and sometimes in nothing less than preserving our own humanity.

  Elizabeth Samet

  Courage, Speaking Up, Silence

  Elizabeth D. Samet (2007). “Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point”, p.214, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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• By playing at Chess then, we may learn... First: Foresight. Second: Circumspection. Third: Caution.

  Benjamin Franklin

  May, Playing Chess, Firsts

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• A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all.

  Thomas Hardy

  Love, Heart, Discretion

  Hand of Ethelberta (1876) ch. 20

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• When among the graves of thy fellows, walk with circumspection; thine own is open at thy feet.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Death, Feet, Graves

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “A Cynic Looks at Life”, p.47, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.

  James Madison

  Voting, Degrees, Depravity

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.259

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• Expect the best, Prepare for the worst.

  Muhammad Ali Jinnah

  Success, Money, Business

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• To point out the importance of circumspection in your conduct, it may be proper to observe that a good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.

  George Washington

  Character, Men, Important

  George Washington (1983). “The Papers of George Washington”

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• There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

  C. S. Lewis

  Gnats, People, Ordinary

  C. S. Lewis (2014). “Christian Reflections”, p.11, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• It is a remarkable circumstance in reference to cunning persons that they are often deficient not only in comprehensive, far-sighted wisdom, but even in prudent, cautious circumspection.

  Richard Whately

  Prudent, Circumstances, Remarkable

  Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “The Essays ... Revised ... by Thomas Markby ... Second edition”, p.238

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• It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible Gods and Goddesses. To remember that the dullest, and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.

  C. S. Lewis

  One Day, Would Be, Serious Things

  C.S. Lewis (1996). “Joyful Christian”, p.197, Simon and Schuster

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• Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter.

  Samuel Adams

  Rights, Sake, Latter

  Samuel Adams (1906). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1770-1773”

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• If we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.

  Samuel Adams

  Suffering, Liberty, Doom

  Samuel Adams (1906). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1770-1773”

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• Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance. Let us remember that "if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom," it is a very serious consideration that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.

  Samuel Adams

  Perseverance, Rights, Suffering

  Essay in The Boston Gazette under the pseudonym "Candidus", October 14, 1771.

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• There are no ordinary people.. it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.

  C. S. Lewis

  Gnats, People, Religion

  C. S. Lewis (2009). “Mere Christianity”, p.12, HarperCollins UK

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• Life is life. You do a lot of different things and you have great adventures but there's not a lot to talk about unless you're in the middle of an adventure at the time. Circumspection is not one of my better, favorite conditions, really.

  Robert Plant

  Adventure, Different, Life Is

  Interview with Maranda Pleasant, www.marandapleasantmedia.com. May 25, 2013.

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• When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.

  Sun Tzu

  War, Enemy, Wish

  Sun Tzu (2012). “Sun Tzu Art of War”, p.68, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd

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• I tend to approach giving interviews with the same sense of circumspection and restraint as I approach my writing. That is to say, virtually none. When asked what I made of blogs like my own, blogs written by parents about their children, I said, 'A blog like this is narcissism in its most obscene flowering.'

  Ayelet Waldman

  Children, Writing, Giving

  "Living Out Loud — Online". The Salon column, www.salon.com. March 14, 2005.

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• When it shall please God to bring thee to man's estate, use great providence and circumspection in choosing thy wife. For from thence will spring all thy future good or evil; and it is an action of life, like unto a stratagem of war; wherein a man can err but once!

  Philip Sidney

  Spring, War, Men

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• There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.

  C. S. Lewis

  Art, Gnats, Civilization

  C. S. Lewis (2014). “Christian Reflections”, p.11, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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