Prudence

"Prudence is a cognitive orientation to the personal future, a form of practical reasoning and self-management that helps to achieve the individual's long-term goals effectively. Prudent individuals show a farsighted and deliberative concern for the consequences of their actions and decisions, successfully resist impulses and other choices that satisfy shorter term goals at the expense of longer term ones, have a flexible and moderate approach to life, and strive for balance among their goals and ends.

"In everyday life, good examples of prudence include saving for the future; planning for unexpected as well as expected contingencies; avoiding situations known to have led in the past to impulsive choices; making life decisions by considering distant as well as immediate benefits and costs, and by paying heed to their probable consistency or conflict with one's other plans; and delibertating about one's personal goals in a pragmatic manner" (Peterson & Seligman, 478).

Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman, (2004). "Prudence" in Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford: Oxford UP.