Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director and regulator, the standard of them all.

Good qualities need something to steer them or they go wrong in their own ways. Courage without judgement is recklessness, generosity without judgement runs dry or props up harm, honesty without judgement turns cruel at the wrong moment. Prudence is the faculty that asks what this particular situation calls for, and it is why two people with the same virtues get different results. It is unglamorous and it governs the rest.

Before acting on a good impulse, take a moment to ask whether it fits this case. The impulse is rarely wrong; the timing and the dose often are. Practical judgement grows out of the deliberate habit of that pause.