Maxim
Look to your own faults before judging others.
“Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice of.”
Buddhism · Ancient (before 200 BCE)
Translation: public-domain translation (Müller)
It is easy to see what others get wrong and hard to see our own failings. Turning the light on ourselves first makes us both wiser and kinder.
Related expressions
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
Watch on YouTube: Rule 6: Set Your House in Perfect Order | Jordan Peterson ↗Jordan B. Peterson discusses this rule (fan upload)“The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive;”
“He who requires much from himself and little from others, will keep himself from being the object of resentment.”
“It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others nor himself.”
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
Score
Moral Rank 87.5 · Evidence E = 19.60
E = ln(1+4.38) + √3.82 + 3·3.82 + 1.5·3 = 19.60