I have tried to make all my acts and commercial moves the result of definite consideration and sound judgment. There were never any great ventures or risks. I practiced honest, slow-growing business methods, and tried to back them with energy and good system.
—Marshall Field (1834–1906) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson, Philanthropist
Great Spirit, help me never to judge another until I have walked in his moccasins.
—American Indian Proverb
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Everyone complains of the badness of his memory, but nobody of his judgment.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Man sees the mote in his neighbor’s eye, but knows not of the beam in his own.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Less judgment than wit, is more sail than ballast. Yet it must be confessed, that wit gives an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
When you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge him by his heart.
—Russian Proverb
Let us remember, when we are inclined to be disheartened, that the private soldier is a poor judge of the fortunes of a great battle.
—William Motter Inge (1913–73) American Playwright, Novelist
My salad days, when I was green in judgment.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs. A Judge may play a little at cards for his own amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or chuck farthing in the Piazza.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Better a living dog than a dead lion.
—Common Proverb
Judge not thy neighbor until thou hast been placed in his position.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
One out of four people in this country is mentally imbalanced. Think of your three closest friends. If they seem okay, then you’re the one.
—Ask Ann Landers (1918–2002) American Advice Columnist
We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross in the eyes of a refined one, and so on. We always imagine, and in imagining share, the judgments of the other mind.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
When you judge others,
you do not define them, you define yourself.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed; we see the most indistinctly the objects which are close around us.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
It is well, when one is judging a friend, to remember that he is judging you with the same godlike and superior impartiality.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
Be advised what thou dost discourse of, and what thou maintainest whether touching religion, state, or vanity; for if thou err in the first, thou shalt be accounted profane; if in the second, dangerous; if in the third, indiscreet and foolish.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
If you would judge, understand.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Organization can never be a substitute for initiative and for judgment.
—Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Jurist
How easy it is to judge rightly after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly!
—Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–65) English Novelist, Short-Story Writer
My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Very often when you look at the moon, you see only a part of it, but you know there is a much larger object there. Very often we look (or converse) with a person, and we see or are aware of only a small sliver of their life and we may think that is all there is. Try to get to know more about the whole person!
—Indian Proverb
Judge everybody favorably.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
It is with our judgments as with our watches: no two go just alike, yet each believes his own.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
For he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day, but he, who is in battle slain, can never rise and fight again.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
It is no little wisdom for a man to keep himself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to him, and to turn his heart to God and not to be troubled with man’s judgment.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer