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.
讓人奇怪的是,和別人的過錯比起來,我們自身的過錯往往不是那樣的可惡。我想,其原因應該是我們知曉一切導致自己犯錯的情況,因此能夠設法諒解自己的錯誤,而別人的錯誤卻不能諒解。我們對自己的缺點不甚關注,即便是深陷困境而不得不正視它們的時候,我們也會很容易就寬恕自己。據我所知,我們這樣做是正確的。缺點是我們自身的一部分,我們必須接納自己的好和壞。