Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never.
Interpretation
True understanding comes from self-reflection rather than external opinions.
The quote by Theodore Parker emphasizes the importance of introspection and self-awareness in forming judgments about oneself and others. While external perspectives may be inconsistent or biased, the insights gained from inward reflection lead to a more accurate and genuine understanding of truth and morality.
In practice
During a workshop on personal growth, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of looking within for guidance.
A democracy,- that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.
Want and wealth equally harden the human heart, as frost and fire are both alien to the human flesh. Famine and gluttony alike drive away nature from the heart of man.
The books which help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading; every man that tries it finds it so. But a great book that comes from a great thinker, β it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth, with beauty too.
No man is so great as mankind.
You may not, cannot, appropriate beauty. It is the wealth of the eye, and a cat may gaze upon a king.
Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world.
Do what is right, and you'll have no lasting regrets. Do what is right, and put yourself on the side of truth, goodness, and the best of life.
I've learned you don't always listen to your agents and managers. Sometimes they know nothing.
The most evident difference springs from the important part which is played in man by a relatively strong power of imagination and by the capacity to think, aided as it is by language and other symbolically devices.
Reputation is like fine china: Once broken it's very hard to repair.
The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful is the cause of half their errors.
We are free to choose our actions, . . . but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.
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