What does the truth matter? Haven't we mothers all given our sons a taste for lies, lies which from the cradle upwards lull them, reassure them, send them to sleep: lies as soft and warm as a breast!
Georges BernanosRead
Who are you to condemn another's sin? He who condemns sin becomes part of it, espouses it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that criticizing others for their mistakes can lead one to share in the same faults.
Georges Bernanos highlights the hypocrisy of condemning others for their sins, suggesting that such judgment renders the condemner complicit in the very actions they denounce. The quote urges introspection and self-awareness rather than external judgment, as it implies that to judge anotherβs wrongdoing may blur the lines of oneβs own moral integrity.
Themes
CondemnationHypocrisySelf-AwarenessMoralityJudgment
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethical behavior, this quote emphasizes the need for compassion rather than judgment.
More from Georges Bernanos
All quotes βFear, true fear, is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable, it is surely the cruelest. There is naught to equal its drive, and naught can survive its thrust.
Georges BernanosRead
I know the compassion of others is a relief at first. I don't despise it. But it can't quench pain, it slips through your soul as through a sieve. And when our suffering has been dragged from one pity to another, as from one mouth to another, we can no longer respect or love it.
Georges BernanosRead
It's a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so.
Georges BernanosRead
Hell, madame, is to love no longer.
Georges BernanosRead
God! how is it that we fail to recognize that the mask of pleasure, stripped of all hypocrisy, is that of anguish?
Georges BernanosRead
Similar quotes
After a certain number of years, our faces become our biographies.
Cynthia OzickRead
One thing only do I know for certain and that is that man's judgments of value follow directly his wishes for happiness-that, accordingly, they are an attempt to support his illusions with arguments. [p.111]
Sigmund FreudRead
All rational action is in the first place individual action. Only the individual thinks. Only the individual reasons. Only the individual acts.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
Seneca The YoungerRead
When we desire or solicit anything, our minds run wholly on the good side or circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.
Jonathan SwiftRead
There are two infinities that confuse me: the one in my soul devours me; the one around me will crush me
Gustave FlaubertRead