The same person, for example, will come to two
different people in an entirely different way, because the larger,
better, purer, and more universal nature of the one calls forth the
best, the noblest, the truest in him; while the smaller, critical,
personal nature of the other calls forth the opposite. The wise man is
therefore careful in regard to what he has to say concerning this or
that one; for, generally speaking, it is a sad commentary upon one's
self if he find only the disagreeable, the objectionable. _One lives
always in the atmosphere of his own creation_.
Again, it is sometimes said, But such a one has such and such habits or
has done so and so, has committed such and such an error or such and
such a crime. But who, let it be asked, constituted me a judge of my
fellow-man? Do I not recognize the fact that the moment I judge my
fellow-man, by that very act I judge myself? One of two things, I either
judge myself or hypocritically profess that never once in my entire life
have I committed a sin, an error of any kind, never have I stumbled,
never fallen, and by that very profession I pronounce myself at once
either a fool or a knave, or both.
Again, it is said, But even for the sake of helping, of doing some
service, I could not for my own sake, for character's, for reputation's
sake, I could not afford even to be seen with such a one.
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