“If when we judged others, our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is certain to be found, and that is in our own hearts. But if we are on the look-out for evil in others, our real motive is obviously to justify ourselves.”
Source: Discipleship (1937), The Disciple and Unbelievers, p. 185.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer 161
German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi 1906–1945Related quotes

The Review and Herald (15 April 1880); also in Mind, Character, and Personality (1977), Vol. 2, p. 789

“Tis thus we heed no instincts but our own;
Believe no evil till the evil's done.”
Nous n'écoutons d'instincts que ceux qui sont les nôtres,
Et ne croyons le mal que quand il est venu.
Book I (1668), fable 8.
Fables (1668–1679)

Attributed but thus far unverified
on the parental behavior of monkeys whose social behaviors he had destroyed in their infancy.
as quoted in Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection, by Deborah Blum, Perseus Publishing, 2002

“How much we give to other hearts our tone,
And judge of others' feelings by our own!”
Title poem, section IV.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)