On Judging Others

“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.”

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

“When any person treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he does this or says this because he thinks that it is his duty. Say on each occasion, It seemed so to him.”

“Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother acts unjustly, lay hold of the handle that he is your brother.”

“When a man has done thee any wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about good or evil he has done wrong. For when thou hast seen this, thou wilt pity him, and wilt neither wonder nor be angry.”

“Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.”

“Without this fellow-feeling, how are we to get enough patience and charity towards our stumbling, falling companions in the long and changeful journey?”

“If God should compute our sins, we should perish.”

“Compare thing with thing, compare matter with matter: and then forgive the matter, that thou mayest be praised.”

Across 175 studies and 26,006 people, what most decided whether someone forgave was not their character but their circumstances, and an apology was among the strongest circumstances of all.

After interviewing more than a thousand Americans past sixty-five about what they had learned, a Cornell researcher found one regret repeated again and again: not asking for forgiveness while there was still time.