Every day I observe more and more the folly of judging of others by ourselves; and I have so much trouble with myself, and my own heart is in such constant agitation, that I am well content to let others pursue their own course, if they only allow me the same privilege.
 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). copy citation

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Author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Source The Sorrows of Young Werther
Topic freedom judgement others
Date 1774
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by R. D. Boylan
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2527/2527-h/2527-h.htm

Context

“Any stranger would consider her a silly being, whose head was turned by her pretensions to rank and property; but she is in reality even more ridiculous, the daughter of a mere magistrate's clerk from this neighbourhood. I cannot understand how human beings can so debase themselves.
Every day I observe more and more the folly of judging of others by ourselves; and I have so much trouble with myself, and my own heart is in such constant agitation, that I am well content to let others pursue their own course, if they only allow me the same privilege.
What provokes me most is the unhappy extent to which distinctions of rank are carried. I know perfectly well how necessary are inequalities of condition, and I am sensible of the advantages I myself derive therefrom; but I would not have these institutions prove a barrier to the small chance of happiness which I may enjoy on this earth.” source

Meaning and analysis

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