Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/136

 prove, by any long Detail, that all the Qualities, useful to the Possessor, are approv'd, and the contrary censur'd, would be superfluous. The least Reflection, on what is every Day experienc'd in Life, will be sufficient. We shall only mention a few Instances, in order to remove, if possible, all Doubt and Hesitation.

Quality, the most necessary for the Execution of any useful Enterprize, is DISCRETION; by which we carry on a safe Intercourse with others, give due Attention to our own and to their Character, weigh each Circumstance of the Business we undertake, and employ the surest and safest Means for the Attainment of any End or Purpose. To a Cromwell, perhaps, or a De Retz, Discretion may appear an Alderman-like Virtue, as Dr. Swift calls it; and being incompatible with those vast Designs, to which their Courage and Ambition prompted them, it might really, in them, be a Fault or Imperfection. But in the Conduct of ordinary Life, no Virtue is more requisite, not only to obtain Success, but to avoid the most fatal Miscarriages and Disappointments. The greatest Parts without it, as observ'd by an elegant Writer, may be fatal to their Owner; as Polyphemus depriv'd of his Eye was only the more ex-