Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.
Joseph AddisonRead
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Only those who recognize their own flaws tend to criticize others, while self-improvement leads to greater empathy.
This quote by Joseph Addison suggests that it is often our own imperfections that lead us to criticize the flaws in others. As we strive for personal growth and perfection, we develop a gentler and more understanding attitude towards the shortcomings of those around us, fostering a sense of compassion rather than judgment.
Themes
ImperfectionEmpathyGrowthCompassionUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth during a team meeting, one might share this quote to inspire a culture of understanding.
More from Joseph Addison
All quotes βGood nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
Joseph AddisonRead
Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.
Joseph AddisonRead
Admiration is a very short lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it still be fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.
Joseph AddisonRead
It is impossible for us, who live in the latter ages of the world, to make observations in criticism, morality, or in any art or science, which have not been touched upon by others. We have little else left us but to represent the common sense of mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more uncommon lights.
Joseph AddisonRead
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
Joseph AddisonRead
Similar quotes
When the mind is full of memories and preoccupied by the future, it misses the freshness of the present moment. In this way, we fail to recognize the luminous simplicity of mind that is always present behind the veils of thought.
Matthieu RicardRead
By going to the movies, and because of other things, too, going to college, making a wide variety of friends, moving around traveling, I became a lot more open-minded than the heritage I was born into might have suggested.
Roger EbertRead
One way leads to acquisition, the other leads to nirvana. Realising this a monk should take no pleasure in the respect of others, but should devote himself to solitude.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Nor is the people's judgment always true: the most may err as grossly as the few.
John DrydenRead
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
Audre LordeRead
If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance.
George Bernard ShawRead