CRITICISM / JUDGMENT

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

The gentleman calls attention to the good points in others; he does not call attention to their defects. The small man does just the reverse of this.
Kongfuzi
c. 551-c. 479 BCE, Chinese Philosopher, Educator, Political Theorist
The Analects of Confucius , XII.16, Arthur Waley, tr., 1989

Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they please.
Pythagoras
6th Century BCE, Greek Philosopher, Mathematician

I criticize by creation – not by finding fault.
Cicero
106-43 BCE, Roman Orator, Statesman, Essayist

Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.
Chinese Saying

It is your mind that makes judgments about good and evil. Stop these judgments and all will be well … Let your mind pronounce nothing to be either good or evil if it can happen equally to both good men and bad.
Marcus Aurelius
121-180, Roman Emperor, Stoic Philosopher
The Spiritual Teachings of Marcus Aurelius , Mark Forstater, tr., 2000

First judge the one who judges within you &ndash
the discriminating power
that calls this worthy and that worthless
within and among you.
If your inner judge condemns you,
who can set you free?
If your inner judge acquits you
who can lock you up?
"Thunder, Perfect Mind"
Gnostic Text, in Desert Wisdom: Sacred Middle Eastern Writings from the Goddess Through the Sufis , Neil Douglas-Klotz, tr., 1995

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Jesus of Nazareth
c. 5-38, Jewish Prophet, Founder of Christianity
in The Bible , Matthew 7:1-2, c. 367 CE, Christian Sacred Text

You who judge others, at sometime be also a judge of yourself. Look into the recesses of your own conscience.
Cyprian
200-258, Carthaginian Prelate
Address to Demetrian

The burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefits can be derived from distinctions and separations?
Jianzhi Sengcan
526-606, Chinese Chan Master, 3rd Zen Patriarch

Happy is the person who finds fault with himself instead of finding fault with others.
Muhammad
c. 570-632, Arab Prophet, Founder of Islam

If you make subjective, personal judgments of past and present events, not having been through the process of refining and purifying your insight, this is like trying to do a sword dance without having learned how to handle a sword.
Fayan Wenyi
885-958, Chinese Chan Master, Fayan School Founder
in Zen Essence: The Science of Freedom , Thomas Cleary, tr. & ed., 1989

You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.
Leonardo da Vinci
1452-1519, Italian Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Scientist

It is a dangerous and serious presumption, and argues an absurd temerity, to condemn what we do not understand.
Montaigne
1533-1592, French Essayist, Moralist
Essais , 1580

La contradiction doit éveiller l'attention, et non pas la colère. Il faut écouter, et non fuir celui qui contredit. Notre cause dout toujours être celle de la vérité, de quelque façon qu'elle nous soit montrée.
Criticism should awaken our attention, not inflame our anger. We should listen to, and not flee from, those who contradict us. Truth should be our cause, no matter in what manner it comes to us.
Madame de Sable
1599-1678, French Epigrammatist
The Maxims of Madame de Sable , Arthur Chandler, tr.

If there is any judgment in your heart, it will be blocked by the judgment.
Bunan
1603-1676, Japanese Gatekeeper, Zen Master
in The Pocket Zen Reader , Thomas Cleary, ed., 1999

No man can justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another.
Thomas Browne
1605-1682, English Physician, Writer, Antiquary
Religio Medici , 1643

He who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth himself.
Browne
Christian Morals , 1716

If we had no vices ourselves we should take less pleasure in identifying those of others.
La Rochefoucauld
1613-1680, French Moralist, Epigrammatist
Maximes , 1678

We should look long and carefully at ourselves before we consider judging others.
Jean-Baptiste Molière
1622-1673, French Dramatist, Actor, Director
Le Misanthrope , 1666

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.
Goethe
1749-1832, German Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Philosopher, Scientist

Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
Goethe

Judge thyself with the judgment of sincerity, and thou will judge others with the judgment of charity.
John Mason
1770-1829, American Cleric, Educator

The more you judge, the less you love.
Honoré de Balzac
1799-1850, French Writer

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.
Abraham Lincoln
1809-1865, 16th US President

Life appears to me to be too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.
Charlotte Bronte
1816-1855, English Writer

Children have more need of models than of critics.
Piet Joubert
1834-1900, Boer Militarist, Statesman

You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.
James McNeill Whistler
1834-1903, American Painter, Etcher, Pamphleteer
Whistler Stories , 1913

Judgments, value judgments concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms – in themselves such judgments are stupidities.
Friedrich Nietzsche
1844-1900, German Philosopher, Critic, Poet

Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity, and consume your own smoke with an extra draft of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints.
William Osler
1849-1919, Canadian Physician

To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
Elbert Hubbard
1856-1915, American Editor, Publisher, Writer

Judge not thy brother!
There are secrets in his heart that you might weep to see.
Leo Martin
1859-1887, Guyanese Poet
"Judge Not Thy Brother"

In judging others we always judge them by our own ideals. That is not as it should be. Everyone must be judged according to his own ideal, and not by that of anyone else.
Vivekananda
1863-1902, Indian Guru, Writer
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 1984-1987 , 2:105-6

You must not criticize others; you must criticize yourself. If you see a drunkard, do not criticize him; remember he is you in another shape. He who has no darkness sees no darkness in others. What you have inside you is that which you see in others. This is the surest way of reform. If the would-be reformers who criticize and see evil would themselves stop creating evil, the world would be better.
Ibid. , 6:129

A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills.
W. E. B. Du Bois
1868-1963, African-American Educator, Writer, Political Activist

In order to judge properly, one must get away somewhat from what one is judging, after having loved it. This is true of countries, of persons, and of oneself.
André Gide
1869-1951, French Writer, Critic, Dramatist, Poet, 1947 Nobel Laureate
Pretexts

As to advice, be wary; if it is honest, it is also criticism.
David Grayson
1870-1946, American Journalist, Writer

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Carl Jung
1875-1961, Swiss Psychologist, Theorist

To belittle is to be little.
Anonymous

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
H. L. Mencken
1880-1956, American Writer, Critic, Philologist, Satirist

Oftentimes I have heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.
But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.
Kahlil Gibran
1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Mystic, Painter
The Prophet , 1923

And you judges who would be just,
What judgment pronounce you upon him who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit? …
And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?
Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in the twilight between his pygmy-self and the day of his god-self;
And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.
Ibid.

As soon as you concern yourself with the "good" and "bad" of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you.
Morihei Ueshiba
1883-1969, Japanese Martial Artist, Founder of Aikido
The Art of Peace , John Stevens, tr., 1992

None of us lives out, at every moment, all of our ideas; but one should judge human beings more by their excellence than by their weaknesses.
André Maurois
1885-1967, French Writer, Biographer, Essayist
Lelia ou la vie de George Sand , 1952

Always keep in mind the part that mood can play in affecting one's judgment of a piece of work; be cautious of enthusiasm when the sun shines bright, and slow to dismissal when the clouds hang low.
J. Donald Adams
1891-1968, American Writer

When one observes oneself as one actually is, then either one is moved to despair because one considers oneself as hopeless, ugly, miserable; or one looks at oneself without any judgment. And to look at oneself without any judgment is of the greatest importance, because that is the only way you can understand yourself and know about yourself.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
1895-1986, Indian Philosopher, Writer
You Are the World , 1972

Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others.
Lin Yutang
1895-1976, Chinese Writer, Dramatist, Translator

It is easier to light a match than it is to curse the darkness.
Paul Robeson
1898-1976, African-American Singer, Activist

Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed over him.
Erich Fromm
1900-1980, German/American Psychoanalyst, Writer
Man For Himself

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.
Louis Nizer
1902-1994, American Attorney

Instead of pointing a finger, we should hold out our hand.
Anonymous

Instead of criticizing, find out how to help.
Shunryu Suzuki
1905-1971, Japanese Zen Master

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa
1910-1997, Albanian Nun, Missionary, 1979 Nobel Laureate

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.
Frank A. Clark
1911-

It is not history that makes judgments, but judgments that make history.
Gaeton Picon
1915-, French Writer
L'Ecrivain et son ombre

It helps you to understand that while you see things one way, the other party sees things differently … imagine how you look from the point of view of that other person. You might discover that they have an image of you that isn't how you see yourself at all. Likewise, you may discover that your image of the other person is distorted as well, leading to two errors of miscommunication. In fact, most of us spend our entire lives making judgments based on error, allowing our misassessments of others and ourselves to muddy the waters of perception.
Vilayat Khan
1916-, Indian-British Sufi Master, Writer
Awakening: A Sufi Experience , 1999

All judgment, I think in almost anything, even in your own personal life, grows out of being able to measure one thing against another. You measure your own judgments, you measure your own values against things that have happened to you.
Ada Louise Huxtable
1921-, American Architectural Critic

Self criticism must be my guide to action, and the first rule for its employment is that in itself it is not a virtue, only a procedure.
Kingsley Amis
1922-, British Writer
in The Daily Express , 1957

It is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of high maturity, to rise to the level of self-criticism.
Martin Luther King
1929-1968, African-American Civil Rights Leader, Cleric, 1964 Nobel Laureate

When we criticize another person, it says nothing about that person: it merely says something about our own need to be critical.
- Richard Carlson

Realize that if you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it.
- Anthony J. D'Angelo
The College Blue Book

Judgement and fear makes strangers out of people who should be friends.
Cameron Koo

When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to check your yardstick.
- Bill Lemley

There is a certain criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them.
Peace Pilgrim
Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words , 1982

One can no more judge a man by the actions of an hour than of the climate of a country by the temperature of a day.
J. Petit-Senn
Conceits and Caprices

It is not appropriate that we allow our actions to be motivated by feelings of indignation, righteousness, or victimization. These feelings are the result of judgments that we make about ourselves and the other person, assessments through which we see ourselves as superior to another being.
Gary Zukav
American Writer
The Seat of the Soul , 1990

Non-judgmental justice is a perception that allows you to see everything in life, but does not engage your negative emotions. Non-judgmental justice relieves you of the self-appointed job of judge and jury because you know that everything is being seen – nothing escapes the law of karma – and this brings forth understanding and compassion … It allows you to experience directly the unobstructed flow of intelligence, radiance, and love of the Universe of which our physical reality is a part. Non-judgmental justice flows naturally from understanding the soul and how it evolves.
Ibid.

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