It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others.I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others.We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them.For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
令人奇怪的是,和别人的过错比起来,我们自己所犯过错似乎并不是那样的不可原谅。我猜想,其原因应该是我们完全清楚是什么导致了犯错,因此能够找到理由原谅自己,却找不到理由原谅他人。我们没有正视自己的不足之处,当我们陷入困境而被迫正视它们的时候,我们也会很容易就放自己一马。就我所知,我们这样做是正确的。 这些缺点是我们自身的一部分,我们必须接受这样的自己——一个并非十全十美的组合体。