Prudence

"Prudence is the virtue of the senses. It is the science of appearances. It is the outmost action of the inward life."-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prudence

This essay on Prudence (1841) was originally delivered by Emerson as a lecture in a course on human culture in the winter of 1837-8. In it, he sought to balance his lofty positions on love and friendship with practical experience, lauding the contribution of prudence to improving human relations and its value in influencing the surface of life rather than its interior.