Another list for the scrapbook—the four Cardinal Virtues:

• Prudence
• Justice
• Temperance
• Fortitude

Prudence is the only one of the four which doesn't traditionally have a Tarot card of its own. It's also, in the context of politics, the theme of David Brooks's column "Why Experience Matters" in the 2008-09-15 New York Times. Brooks observes:

What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique pattern of a specific situation. It is the ability to absorb the vast flow of information and still discern the essential current of events—the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and feel which arguments have the most weight.

How is prudence acquired? Through experience. The prudent leader possesses a repertoire of events, through personal involvement or the study of history, and can apply those models to current circumstances to judge what is important and what is not, who can be persuaded and who can't, what has worked and what hasn't. ...

Sounds like Wisdom ...

_{(cf. HareBrainTortoiseMind (2005-06-03), Monday Morning Mentoring (2008-01-30), Ten Strategies for Success (2008-08-29), ...) - ^z - 2008-09-17}

(correlates: SmallIdeas, Bo Leuf, Monday Morning Mentoring, ...)