Meaning & Analysis
The proverb means that someone who criticizes or finds fault with others is often guilty of even greater faults themselves; and that those who would blame others ought first to ensure they are not guilty of the same or worse.
Insights
Hypocrisy
Exposes the all-too-common tendency to judge or condemn others for faults one possesses oneself, highlighting the moral failing of double standards.
Self-Examination
Encourages introspection and self-correction before reproving others, implying that true authority to blame others comes only from personal integrity and self-awareness.
Cycle of Judgment
Reflects how moralizing and criticism, when unaccompanied by self-reflection, can perpetuate cycles of blame and defensiveness in personal and social relationships.
Classical and Biblical Heritage
The theme is ancient, echoed in biblical admonitions such as 'Judge not, lest ye be judged' and 'Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own?' It appears throughout Erasmus and Shakespeare, attesting to its moral and literary resonance.
Universal and Enduring Relevance
The proverb is universally applicable, cropping up in cultures worldwide and in countless variations; it endures because it targets a fundamental flaw of human social and moral behavior.
Ethical Foundation
The saying underlines a foundational ethical principle: authority to judge or correct others depends on one’s own blamelessness and humility.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
Juxtaposes blaming others and committing worse oneself, highlighting the contradiction at the heart of hypocrisy.
Parallelism
Balanced structure ('finds fault with others and does worse himself') gives the proverb rhythm and memorability.
Ellipsis
Often omits specific faults or names, allowing the phrase to serve as a general warning or rebuke.
Transcription
Quotations
Quod aliis vitio vertas, ipse ne feceris.
Correct not faults in other, and thy selfe do vse the same.
Such a one blameth an other, that condemneth himselfe.
Some in blamyng of others, condemne them selues.
Busie they are with pen to write our vices in our face, But negligent to knowe the blemish of their owne disgrace.
He that will reproue man must be blamelesse himselfe.
He that will blame another, must first bee blamelesse himselfe, especially in that matter which he blameth an other for.
Shakespeare Citations
With foul offenders thou per-force must bear When they in thee the like offences prove.
Come, sir, you blush! As his your case is such.
You chide at him, offending twice as much.
What, for a counter, would I do but good? —Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin . . And all th' embossed sores and headed evils That thou with license of free foot hast caught, Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world.
Wilt thou whip thine own faults in other men?
But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee When I break twenty?
Cross References
- See DÜR., II, no. 417.
- C827 He that mocks a cripple ought to be whole
- H789 Whose house (head) is of glass must not throw stones at another
- I27 He that speaks ill of another let him first think of himself
- M1191 You can see a mote in another man's eye but cannot see a beam in your own
- N112 Who more ready to call her neighbor scold than the arrantest scold in the parish?
- P532 He should have a hale pow that calls his neighbor nitty know
- W20 We see not what is in the wallet behind
- W160 He tells me my way and does not know it himself.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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