what if this is the thing ... that none of us is an I but each of us is a we and that's why the cardinal virtues are hinges ... because in trying to ensure justice for others we rely on prudence a supervisory virtue to first set our own divided house in order ... which takes courage/fortitude and temperance to deal with the two fundamental disruptions of pain and pleasure that unsettle us ... tear our integrity apart to test and play us false ... for each of these virtues but prudence and justice overall is a reflection a conformity towards truth ... and prudence foremost ... for it's how we treat ourselves our selves at war with our selves that determines how we approach others ... prudence the political art ... and the prudential man the man in balance the one most likely to choose well ... and this is what's wrong with the gnostic the progressive the modern-day liberal ... that in his fear for social justice his panic in the face of inequality and atrocity his irrational always hurried rush to utopia his ambition to make all things right by laying down the law he imprudently makes them worse
josef pieper, the four cardinal virtues
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