Few men survey themselves with so much severity as not to admit prejudices in their own favor.
Interpretation
Men often fail to critically examine their own biases, especially those that benefit them.
This quote by Samuel Johnson highlights the tendency of individuals to overlook their own prejudices, particularly when these biases work in their favor. It suggests that self-reflection and honest assessment of oneβs beliefs and biases is a difficult yet necessary task in the pursuit of personal growth and understanding. By acknowledging our prejudices, we can cultivate a more genuine perspective and foster greater empathy toward others.
In practice
In a discussion about social justice, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of recognizing personal biases.
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.
The hypocrite who always plays one and the same part ceases at last to be a hypocrite.
We are Born like this Into this Into these carefully mad wars Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness Into bars where people no longer speak to each other Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings Born into this Into hospitals which are so expensive that itβs cheaper to die Into lawyers who charge so much itβs cheaper to plead guilty Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
I turn and turn in my cell like a fly that doesn't know where to die.
The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.
It is certain that the easy and obvious philosophy will always, with the generality of mankind, have preference above the accurate.
We never see other people anyway, only the monsters we make of them.
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