Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Don’t label others mad unless you’re willing to share their faults, and don’t punish someone unless you accept the same penalty for your own errors.
In plain terms
Only judge others if you accept equal responsibility for similar faults.
What can you take from it?
Apply the same standards to yourself before condemning others.

Where it applies

  • in legal settings
  • in personal conflicts

Putting it to work

  • reflect before criticizing
  • accept accountability

Questions to consider

  • How can you ensure fairness in judgment?
  • What does 'rank in the same class' mean to you?

Another view

It may ignore power dynamics that make equal treatment impossible.

More from Margaret Fuller

  1. Might the simple maxim, that honesty is the best policy be laid to heart! Might a sense of the true aims of life elevate the tone of politics and trade, till p…

    Permalink to quote #7
  2. Were the destiny of woman thus exactly marked out, did she invariably retain the shelter of a parent's or guardian's roof till she married, did marriage give h…

    Permalink to quote #9
  3. How many persons must there be who cannot worship alone since they are content with so little.

    Permalink to quote #6

Related quotes

  1. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

    HammurabiHammurabi quote #3
  2. Many a man can save himself if he admits he's done wrong and takes his punishment.

    Henrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen quote #11
  3. Like some magistrate grown gray in office, Calmly he contemplates alike the just And unjust, with indifference he notes Evil and good, and knows not wrath nor …

    Aleksandr PushkinAleksandr Pushkin quote #19