Prudence

Only genuine knowledge of the Good enables right action — the statesman who governs by opinion rather than knowledge cannot explain or replicate success.

Prudence is the master virtue of the practical life — the capacity that directs every other virtue toward right action in particular circumstances.

The Stoic equivalent of prudence is the correct use of impressions — knowing at every moment what is and is not in our power.

Prudence is right reason applied to action — the charioteer of the virtues, with eight integral parts that constitute excellent practical reasoning.

Experience, not theory, is the school of practical wisdom — and the person who has learned to know themselves knows more than most philosophers.

Prudence is accumulated experience translated into reliable expectation — nothing more, and nothing about virtue or the Good.

Prudence is legitimate in its own domain but has nothing to do with morality — the confusion of the two is the fundamental error of empiricist ethics.

The art of life requires both general principles and the judgment to apply them — utilitarian calculation is the modern form of practical wisdom.