As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a shift in the speaker's expectations of people as they gain more understanding of humanity.
Samuel Johnson suggests that as one learns more about human nature and the imperfections that come with it, their standards for what constitutes a 'good man' become more lenient. This indicates a deeper acceptance of humanity's flaws and a recognition that goodness can take many forms.
In practice
In a discussion about human behavior during a psychology class.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel.
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
Usually we regard loneliness as an enemy. Heartache is not something we choose to invite in. It's restless and pregnant and hot with the desire to escape and find something or someone to keep us company. When we can rest in the middle, we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cooling loneliness that completely turns our usual fearful patterns upside down.
Like dear St. Francis of Assisi I am wedded to Poverty: but in my case the marriage is not a success.
Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives.
Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
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