Judgment

"Care clouds Judgement."

"On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait, And from your judgment must expect my fate."

"It’s easy to judge others when we are not going through the same thing."

"But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

"Behind the unwillingness to judge lurks the suspicion that no one is a free agent, and hence the doubt that anyone is responsible or could be expected to answer for what he has done. The moment moral issues are raised, even in passing, he who raises them will be confronted with this frightful lack of self-confidence and hence of pride, and also with a kind of mock-modesty that in saying, Who am I to judge? actually means We're all alike, equally bad, and those who try, or pretend that they try, to remain halfway decent are either saints or hypocrites, and in either case should leave us alone."

"Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue."

"Cruel and cold is the judgment of man, Cruel as winter, and cold as the snow; But by-and-by will the deed and the plan Be judged by the motive that lieth below."

"You know the old cliché by now: You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. That doesn't mean you can't though."

"The great philosopher Plato wrote an allegory in the last book of his Republic about souls making themselves ready to come back to earth again. Each one, he said, had a choice as to when and where to be born, but that choice must always be in accord with the soul's capacities and needs. So it is really a matter of being drawn naturally to the environment best suited to the soul, as provided by parents, family, and nation. It would, however, be a mistake to think that one who held reincarnation to be true would therefore judge men by their environments - a pleasant environment meaning that they were "good souls," and an unpleasant one meaning that they were "bad souls." The greatest of men often take upon themselves the most difficult and apparently unrewarding tasks for reasons which they themselves must understand much more clearly than can those around them. So it might be for souls who are resting between births: some souls might be drawn to a very difficult family situation and take up such a burden, knowingly. If there is a soul in man, assuredly it does not think in terms of physical wealth or personal ambition, nor care about what the short-sighted part of man's nature calls success or failure."

"The one eternal, immutable law of life alone can judge and condemn man absolutely. ...Judge the tree by its fruits, man by his deeds. (June)"

"To pass judgment hurriedly doesn’t mean you’re a judge. The wise one, weighing both the right judgment & wrong, judges others impartially — unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma, guarding the Dhamma, guarded by Dhamma, intelligent: he’s called a judge."

"The cold neutrality of an impartial judge."

"Meanwhile "Black sheep, black sheep!" we cry, Safe in the inner fold; And maybe they hear, and wonder why, And marvel, out in the cold."

"It is by our achievements that we shall be judged."

"You needn't await the Final Judgment. It takes place every day."

"My friend, judge not me, Thou seest I judge not thee; Betwixt the stirrop and the ground, Mercy I askt, mercy I found."

"In the last analysis sound judgment will prevail."

"Woe to him, * * * who has no court of appeal against the world's judgment."

"Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."

"Make every private Sentinel, every Musquetier, both Judge, Jury, and Executioner."

"Most people suspend their judgment till somebody else has expressed his own and then they repeat it. Common parlance alludes to this weakness in the frequently heard phrase: PEOPLE DO NOT THINK."

"We judge others according to results; how else?—not knowing the process by which results are arrived at."

"People think that they have no right to judge a fact — all they have to do is to accept it. Thus from the moment that technics, the State, or production, are facts, we must worship them as facts, and we must try to adapt ourselves to them. This is the very heart of modern religion, the religion of the established fact, the religion on which depend the lesser religions of the dollar, race, or the proletariat."

"Scientific "facts" are taught at a very early age and in the very same manner in which religious "facts" were taught only a century ago... In society at large the judgment of the scientist is received with the same reverence as the judgement of bishops and cardinals was accepted not too long ago."

"A justice with grave justices shall sit; He praise their wisdom, they admire his wit."

"In other men we faults can spy, And blame the mote that dims their eye; Each little speck and blemish find, To our own stronger errors blind."

"So comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er, The dreadful reck'ning, and men smile no more."

"There is nothing more dangerous than to pass judgment on the basis of fragmentary proof."

"I know of no way of judging the future but by the past."

"Art thou a magistrate? then be severe; If studious, copy fair what time hath blurr'd, Redeem truth from his jaws: if soldier, Chase brave employments with a naked sword Throughout the world. Fool not, for all may have If they dare try, a glorious life, or grave."

"Do not judge your fellow man until you have come into his situation."

"If we will measure other people's corn in our own bushel, let us first take it to the Divine standard, and have it sealed."

"Nature has but one judgment on wrong conduct—if you can call that a judgment which seemingly has no reference to conduct as such—the judgment of death."

"Male verum examinat omnis Corruptus judex."

"Demens Judicio vulgi, sanus fortasse tuo."

"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?"

"A brother at Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to say to him, ‘Come, for everyone is waiting for you.’ So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug, filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him, seeing the trail of water behind him, and said, ‘What is this, Father?’ The old man said to them, ‘My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.’ When they heard that they said no more to the brother but forgave him."

"Besides, I try to judge things for myself; to judge wrong, I think, is more honourable than not to judge at all."

"For the one who does not practice mercy will have his judgment without mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

"The firmness with which the people have withstood the late abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment between them."

"So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, And loud withal, that would not wag, nor scarce Lie still without a fee."

"Sir, as a man advances in life, he gets what is better than admiration, — judgement, to estimate things at their true value."

"Verso pollice."

"Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te conatus non pœniteat votique peracti?"

"For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us—recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state—our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: ... Secondly, were we truly men of judgment—with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past—of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others—with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candor to admit it.... Courage — judgment— integrity — dedication—these are the historic qualities ... which, with God's help ... will characterize our Government's conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead."

"But now what about the person who was so avid to judge, to vent his resentment, his powerless indignation, upon someone else without really knowing anything about what he was judging; what if in eternity he discovers, and is compelled to admit, that the person he judged was not only to be excused but that he was a most noble, unselfish, and magnanimous person! It has been said that some day in eternity we (hoping, alas, that we ourselves will not be excluded) shall with amazement miss this one and that one whom we had definitely expected to find there; but will we not with amazement also see that one and that one whom we would have summarily excluded and see that he was far better than we ourselves, not as if he had become that later, but precisely in that which made the judger decide to exclude him. Yet the person who loves believes all things. With the blessed joy of amazement, he will someday see that he was right; and if he made a mistake by believing too much of the good - to believe the good is itself a blessing. Lovingly to believe the good is certainly no defect - but then one does not make a mistake by it either. Mistrustingly to believe nothing at all (which is entirely different from knowledge about the equilibrium of opposite possibilities) and lovingly to believe all things are not a cognition, nor a cognitive conclusion, but a choice that occurs when knowledge has placed the opposite possibilities in equilibrium; and in this choice, which, to be sure, is in the form of a judgment of others, the one judging will be disclosed."

"Give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil."

"One reason we rush so quickly to the vulgar satisfactions of judgment, and love to revel in our righteous outrage, is that it spares us from the impotent pain of empathy, and the harder, messier work of understanding."

"Suspending moral judgment is not the immorality of the novel; it is its morality. The morality that stands against the ineradicable human habit of judging instantly, ceaselessly, and everyone; of judging before, and in the absence of, understanding. From the view­point of the novel’s wisdom, that fervid readiness to judge is the most detestable stupidity, the most pernicious evil."

"Le devoir des juges est de rendre justice, leur métier est de la différer; quelques uns savent leur devoir, et font leur métier."

"Half as sober as a judge."

"No man can be judged except against the background of his own time. The standard of yesterday are not the standards of today, and the circumstance of daily life were vastly different. Before one attempts to render judgment, one should consider the world in which the man existed, and the customs of the time and place."

"On est quelquefois un sot avec de l'esprit; mais on ne l'est jamais avec du jugement."

"And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again."

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it."

"He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss."

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."

"Bisogna che i giudici siano assai, perché pochi sempre fanno a modo de' pochi."

"And thus methinks should men of judgment frame Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade, And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose Infinite riches in a little room."

"Give your decisions, never your reasons; your decisions may be right, your reasons are sure to be wrong."

"My suit has nothing to do with the assault, or battery, or poisoning, but is about three goats, which, I complain, have been stolen by my neighbor. This the judge desires to have proved to him; but you, with swelling words and extravagant gestures, dilate on the Battle of Cannæ, the Mithridatic war, and the perjuries of the insensate Carthaginians, the Syllæ, the Marii, and the Mucii. It is time, Postumus, to say something about my three goats."

"I pleaded your cause, Sextus, having agreed to do so for two thousand sesterces. How is it that you have sent me only a thousand? "You said nothing," you tell me; "and this cause was lost through you." You ought to give me so much the more, Sextus, as I had to blush for you."

"Judge thyself with the judgment of sincerity, and thou wilt judge others with the judgment of charity."

"When thou attended gloriously from heaven, Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send Thy summoning archangels to proclaim Thy dread tribunal."

"There written all Black as the damning drops that fall From the denouncing Angel's pen, Ere Mercy weeps them out again."

"In judging ourselves, we cannot be too severe; in judging others, we cannot be too candid. We should judge ourselves by our motives, but others by their actions."

"Judicis officium est ut res ita tempora rerum Quærere."

"Each one of us is... called upon to give a judgment upon an immense variety of problems, crucial for our social existence. If that judgment confirms measures and conduct tending to the increased welfare of society, then it may be termed a moral, or, better, a social judgment. It follows, then, that to ensure a judgement's being moral, method and knowledge are essential to its formation. ...[T]he formation of a moral judgment—that is, one which the individual is reasonably certain will tend to social welfare— does not depend solely on the readiness to sacrifice individual gain or comfort, or on the impulse to act unselfishly: it depends in the first place on knowledge and method. The first demand of the state upon the individual is not for self-sacrifice but for self-development. ...[T]he man who gives a vote... in the choice of a representative, after forming a judgement based upon knowledge, is... acting socially, and is fulfilling a higher standard of citizenship."

"A Judge must bear in mind that when he tries a case he is himself on trial."

"Look, as sentient meat, however illusory our identities are, we craft those identities by making value judgments: everybody judges, all the time. Now, you got a problem with that... You're livin' wrong."

"You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters... Not one of them who took up in his youth with this opinion that there are no gods ever continued until old age faithful to his conviction."

"Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own."

"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine."

"You cannot avoid making judgements but you can become more conscious of the way in which you make them. This is critically important because once we judge someone or something we tend to stop thinking about them or it."

"Since twelve honest men have decided the cause, And were judges of fact, tho' not judges of laws."

"You will remember that Christ said, "Judge not lest ye be judged." That principle I do not think you would find was popular in the law courts of Christian countries. I have known in my time quite a number of judges who were very earnest Christians, and none of them felt that they were acting contrary to Christian principles in what they did. Then Christ says, "Give to him that asketh of thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." That is a very good principle... Then there is one other maxim of Christ which I think has a great deal in it, but I do not find that it is very popular among some of our Christian friends. He says, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor." That is a very excellent maxim, but, as I say, it is not much practised. All these, I think, are good maxims, although they are a little difficult to live up to. I do not profess to live up to them myself; but then, after all, it is not quite the same thing as for a Christian."

"Denn aller Ausgang ist ein Gottesurtheil."

"Commonly we say a Judgment falls upon a Man for something in him we cannot abide."

"Si judicas, cognosce: si regnas, jube."

"For I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man."

"We cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of one who gives and kindles joy in the heart of one who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other, not even those whom you catch committing an evil deed. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Keep away from the spilling of speech. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around."

"We shall be judged, not by what we might have been, but what we have been."

"He that of greatest works is finisher Oft does them by the weakest minister: So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown, When judges have been babes."

"I see men's judgments are A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward Do draw the inward quality after them, To suffer all alike."

"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment."

"Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all."

"What we oft do best, By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is Not ours, or not allow'd; what worst, as oft, Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up For our best act."

"Therefore I say again, I utterly abhor, yea from my soul Refuse you for my judge; whom, yet once more, I hold my most malicious foe, and think not At all a friend to truth."

"Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge, That no king can corrupt."

"O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason!"

"The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two Guiltier than him they try."

"How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are?"

"Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves."

"He who the sword of heaven will bear Should be as holy as severe; Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go; More nor less to others paying Than by self-offenses weighing. Shame to him, whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking!"

"To offend, and judge, are distinct offices And of opposed natures."

"I stand for judgment: answer: shall I have it?"

"A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel."

"It doth appear you are a worthy judge; You know the law; your exposition Hath been most sound."

"I charge you by the law, Whereof you are a well deserving pillar, Proceed to judgment."

"The urging of that word, judgment, hath bred a kind of remorse in me."

"What is my offence? Where are the evidence that do accuse me? What lawful quest have given their verdict up Unto the frowning judge?"

"Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to decide impartially."

"Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the poor and needy."

"The Holy Spirit would lead us to think much upon our own sins. It is a dangerous thing for us to dwell upon the imperfections of others."

"Would that our harsh judgments could be restrained, our impatience checked, our selfishness broken down, our passions controlled, our waste of time and life in worthless or unworthy objects corrected, by the thought that there is One in whose hands we are, who cares for us with a parent's love, who will judge us hereafter without the slightest tinge of human infirmity, the All-Merciful and the All-Just."

"Though our works Find righteous or unrighteous judgment, this At least is ours, to make them righteous."

"But as when an authentic watch is shown, Each man winds up and rectifies his own, So in our very judgments."

"Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur."

"Initia magistratuum nostrorum meliora, ferme finis inclinat."

"O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments [are] and past tracing out his ways [are]! For “who has come to know Jehovah’s mind, or who has become his counselor?”"

"Where blind and naked Ignorance Delivers brawling judgments, unashamed, On all things all day long."

"Ita comparatam esse naturam omnium, aliena ut melius videant et dijudicent, quam sua."

"It is misleading to say that somebody "chose" a dysfunctional relationship or any other negative situation in his or her life. Choice implies consciousness - a high degree of consciousness. Without it, you have no choice. Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present. Until you reach that point, you are unconscious, spiritually speaking. This means that you are compelled to think, feel, and act in certain ways according to the conditioning of your mind. That is why Jesus said: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." This is not related to intelligence in the conventional sense of the word. I have met many highly intelligent and educated people who were also completely unconscious, which is to say completely identified with their mind. In fact, if mental development and increased knowledge are not counterbalanced by a corresponding growth in consciousness, the potential for unhappiness and disaster is very great. p. 142"

"One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat. At any rate, if it is heat it ought to be white heat and not sputter, because sputtering heat is apt to spread the fire. There ought, if there is any heat at all, to be that warmth of the heart which makes every man thrust aside his own personal feeling, his own personal interest, and take thought of the welfare and benefit of others."