Francois de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.

Everybody loves to find fault, it gives a feeling of superiority.

Whatever makes us feel superior to other people, whatever tempts us to convey a sense of superiority, that is the gravity of our sinful nature, not grace.

We often think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, and it's easy to judge others and be critical of their weaknesses and shortcomings. But this self-righteous attitude is a sin that we can be blinded to because we're so focused on what the other person did wrong. The reality is this attitude is worse than the wrong behavior we're judging.

Curiously enough, it is often the people who refuse to assume any responsibility who are apt to be the sharpest critics of those who do.

Self-righteousness is the fruit of a low view of God's law and a lite view of your own sin.

He who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth himself (Christian morals).

The corruption of the good by the belief in their own infallible goodnes is the most bloody dangerous pitfall in the human spectrum. Once you have conquered all your sins, pride is the one which will conquer you. A man starts off deciding he is a good man because he makes good decisions. Next thing, he's convinced that whatever decision he makes must be good because he's a good man. Most of the wars in the world are caused by people who think they have god on their side. Always stick with people who know they are flawed and ridiculous.

The man who acts the least, upbraids the most.

A preacher who doesn't believe he's that bad will attract people who don't think they're that bad. And that's bad.

Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority: men please themselves with imagining that they have made a deeper search, or wider survey than others, and detected faults and follies which escape vulgar observation.

A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.

Being virtuous is wonderful thing, but feeling virtuous is a shortcut to vice.

How dare you put yourself in that position where you are the moral judge?

In the E.U., there are always morally superior people who think they have to educate the others.

It’s not bad people I fear so much as good people. When a person is sure that he is good, he is nearly hopeless; he gets cruel- he believes in punishment.

Beware of self-righteousness. The black devil of licentiousness destroys his hundreds, but the white devil of self-righteousness destroys his thousands.

Am I self-righteous? Why not? It's not like I can count on you to be righteous for me.

A cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to Hell than a prostitute.

The most despicable humans are the ones who always feel virtuous and look down on the rest of the world.

Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner.

Jesus is never upset at sinners; he is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners.

Pharisaism is not a degeneration in a good man: a large portion of it is rather the condition of all being-good.

Beware of self-righteousness in every possible shape and form. Some people get as much harm from their "virtues" as others do from their sins.

Let us watch against PRIDE in every shapepride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride in our own goodness.