prudence or knowledge necessary to govern one's self properly.

There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion. It is this indeed which gives a value to all the rest, which sets them at work in their proper times and places, and turns them to the advantage of the person who is possessed of them. Without discretion learning is pedantry, and wit impertinence; virtue itself looks like weakness; and the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice.

Nor does discretion only make a man master of his own parts, but of other men's. The discreet man finds out the talents of those he converses with, and knows how to apply them to proper uses. Accordingly, if we look into particular communities and divisions of men, we may observe that it is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and prescribes measures to the society. A man with great talents, but void of discretion, is, like Polyphemus in the fable, strong and blind, ended with an irresistible force, which for want of sight is of no use to him. Though a man have all other perfections, and yet want discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he have this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of other endowments, he may do what he pleases in his particular station of life.

It is proper, however, to distinguish between discretion and cunning; the latter being the accomplishment only of little, mean, ungenerous minds. Discretion points out the noblest end to us, and pursues the most proper and laudable methods of attaining them; cunning has only private and selfish aims, and it sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extensive views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon; cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, which discovers the minutest objects that are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance. Discretion, the more it is discovered, gives the greater authority to the person who possesses it; cunning, when it is once detected, loses its whole force, and makes a man incapable of bringing about even those events which he might have done had he passed only for a plain man. Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life; cunning is a kind of instinct, which only looks out after our immediate interest and welfare. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understanding; cunning is often to be met with even in brutes themselves, and in persons who are but few removes from them. In short, cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men for that which it imitates; in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.