discretion [ME] In Latin discretio developed from ‘separation’ to ‘fine judgement’, an ability to separate ideas, the sense in which it entered English from French in the Middle Ages. The proverb discretion is the better part of valour was familiar in Shakespeare’s time. The idea is even older, having a parallel in the works of the Greek dramatist Euripides in the 5th century bc: ‘Forethought, this too is bravery’.