Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Suffering injustice is better than committing it, and trusting is better than never trusting.
In plain terms
It is better to be treated badly than to treat others badly, and to trust even if betrayed.
What can you take from it?
Choose integrity and trust over self protection.

Where it applies

  • conflict
  • betrayal
  • ethical dilemmas

Putting it to work

  • practice forgiveness
  • build trust
  • act ethically

Questions to consider

  • Is it worth trusting if you might get hurt?
  • How do you define integrity?

Another view

Trusting blindly can expose one to repeated harm in unsafe environments.

More from Samuel Johnson

  1. Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear tha…

    Permalink to quote #48
  2. There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed.

    Permalink to quote #50
  3. Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty.

    Permalink to quote #47

Related quotes

  1. It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.

    Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt quote #16
  2. No man can mortgage his injustice as a pawn for his fidelity.

    Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke quote #127
  3. You took sides!' So did you. The difference is that I sided with a man who was asking nothing more than to live with dignity... And you were siding with a woma…

    Orson Scott CardOrson Scott Card quote #706