November 6

It is unwise to judge your neighbor: you gain nothing by it while causing harm to both yourself and others.

1

When, at the end of an evening gathering, one of the guests said his goodbyes and left, the remaining guests began judging him and said many bad things about him. The same thing also happened to the second one to leave. All the guests parted this way, down to one. “Please let me stay overnight,” said the last guest. “I’ve heard what everyone who left had to suffer, and I fear for myself.”

2

A saying goes: speak well of the dead or be silent. I think that, on the contrary, we should not speak ill of the living, because this can hurt them and ruin their relationships with others, but of the dead, of those whom it is customary to speak flattering lies, nothing prevents us from speaking the whole truth.

3

What makes judging others especially bad is that a judgment of a person’s faults, which could have been useful were it said to the person’s face, is concealed from the one to whom it might be useful and is communicated to those to whom it is harmful, making them feel negative feelings towards the one being accused.

4

Be stern with yourself and lenient with others, and you will have no enemies.

— Chinese wisdom

5

A person stops judging others the moment he conquers himself.

6

I knew an old man who would stretch out his words on purpose so that a few seconds would pass between each word. He did this deliberately, afraid of sinning with a word.

7

We are all bad, which is why every fault we find in others we will always find in ourselves. So let us forgive each other. Mutual forgiveness is the only way to live in peace.

A word is an expression of a thought, a thought is a manifestation of divine power, and therefore the word must correspond to what it is expressing. It can be indifferent, but it cannot and must not be an expression of evil.