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142 detect, examine, and exaggerate the deficiencies of others.

The careless do not believe or imagine how busy he is in impressing on our minds the little failings of this or that person, when he cannot bring before us great faults.

Seeing, then, that he is so intent on our destruction, let us be watchful, lest we fall into his snares. And as soon as he sets before you any failing of your neighbour, turn away from the thought at once; and if you still feel tempted to criticise, do not yield to the desire. Remember that the right to judge another is not yours; and that even if it had been intrusted to you, you would be incapable of exercising it with integrity, as you are encompassed by a thousand passions, and but too prone to think evil of another without just cause.

The most effectual remedy against this temptation is, I would remind you, the attentive consideration of your own heart; for you will hourly make fresh discoveries of the amount of work you have to do in yourself, and for yourself, which will leave you neither the leisure nor the inclination to busy yourself about the conduct of others.

Moreover, by the faithful performance of this exercise of self-inspection, you will more and more purge your inward eye of those bad hu-