Quotes about Caution

Neither awake nor in a dark dream are perilous blades just as they seem.

Fear was given to man as a cautionary device to spare him pain; it is not mean to be cultivated and abused.

Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.

"If a writer is so cautious that he never writes anything that cannot be criticized, he will never be able to write anything that can be read. If you want to help other people you have got to make up your mind to write things that some men will condemn."

Be careful in your relations with the government; for they draw no man close to themselves except for their own interests. They appear as friends when it is to their advantage, but they do not stand by a man in his time of stress.

We feel led to caution . . . against forming the bad habit of incurring debt and taking upon themselves obligations which frequently burden them heavier than they can bear, and lead to the loss of their homes and other possessions. We know it is the fashion of the age to use credit to the utmost limit. . . . We, therefore, repeat our counsel . . . to shun debt. Be content with moderate gains, and be not misled by illusory hopes of acquiring wealth. . . . Let our children also be taught habits of economy, and not to indulge in tastes which they cannot gratify without running into debt.

I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.

Caution is the eldest child of wisdom.

Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; norcan the dead ever be brought back to life. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.

Caution: These verses may be hazardous to your solemnity.

Have I not walked without an upward look Of caution under stars that very well Might not have missed me when they shot and fell? It was a risk I had to take-and took.

O Life! how pleasant is thy morning, Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning! Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning, We frisk away, Like schoolboys at th' expected warning, To joy and play.

It requires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune, and when you have it, it requires ten times as much skill to keep it.

Patrick Henry opposed the federal Constitution not only because it lacked a Bill of Rights in its unamended form, but also because it would establish a "consolidated government" rather than a confederation of states. It is proper to note George F. Willison's caution that "[s]peeches by Henry and others, as reported, were approximations of what was said. . . . The 'shorthand gentlemen' of the convention did not attempt a verbatim report of everything that was said. Rather, they reported the lines of argument, the special points that were made, but their notes did manage to convey something of the style of the various speakers, picking up and preserving many of their more graphic phrases." (George F. Willison, Patrick Henry and His World, 1969) "The Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, Sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting - it squints towards monarchy. And does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king. . . . Where are your checks in this government? . . . I would rather infinitely - and I am sure most of this convention are of the same opinion - have a king, lords, and commons than a government so replete with such insupportable evils."

A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.

I do not permit affection, or lack thereof, to influence my actions. There is good, and there is evil. The good must be protected; the evil eradicated. I have shown you the triumph of evil, as a caution.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

Take caution in your tone, commander. I'm a fair man, but this -- heat is making me absolutely crazy.

I have often pondered over the roles of knowledge or experience, on the one hand, and imagination or intuition, on the other, in the process of discovery. I believe that there is a certain fundamental conflict between the two, and knowledge, by advocating caution, tends to inhibit the flight of imagination. Therefore, a certain naivete, unburdened by conventional wisdom, can sometimes be a positive asset.

In his address of 19 September 1796, given as he prepared to leave office, President George Washington spoke about the importance of morality to the country's well-being: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. . . . And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. . . . Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue?

There is a courageous wisdom; there is also a false reptile prudence, the result, not of caution, but of fear.

Deliberate with caution, but act with decision; and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

ACCOUNTABILITY, n. The mother of caution.

It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution.