Quotes: Social judgment
4 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The quotes
“I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.”
Source: Tractatus politicus, Introduction (1677) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The Latin formula appears in the Introduction to Spinoza’s Tractatus politicus and is presented there as his method of study.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution to Spinoza is secure, but the line is often loosely translated and sometimes misassigned to other works.
Spinoza states a research method: suspend mockery, lament and hatred, and seek causal explanation for human acts. Phrased in the Introduction to the Tractatus politicus, it reflects his rationalist, deterministic approach to the passions.
“In dealing with a man who thinks you a fool it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace”
Source: Arrow of God, 1964 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence is documented in Chinua Achebe’s novel Arrow of God, first published in 1964.
- What remains uncertain
- The commonly circulated wording alters the novel’s phrasing—Achebe’s text reads “a fool,” while many reproductions insert “are a fool.”
Achebe frames restraint as a deliberate social tactic: you may fully grasp another’s point yet choose to hide it to keep peace. In Arrow of God this is strategic humility, a move that protects communal stability rather than simple capitulation.
“Hell is other people.”
Source: No Exit, final exchange (1944) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence appears in Sartre’s play No Exit and is spoken by the character Garcin in the play’s concluding lines.
Sartre’s line reframes hell as a human condition: being trapped under other people’s judgments so that you become an object for their gaze. It closes the play No Exit, where three dead characters are forced into mutual scrutiny. The point targets dependence on others’ evaluations, not company itself.
“The complaint of the depressive individual, ‘Nothing is possible,’ can only occur in a society that thinks, ‘Nothing is impossible.’”
Source: The Burnout Society (English translation by Erik Butler), 2015 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence appears in the published English translation of The Burnout Society and is attributed to Byung‑Chul Han.
- What remains uncertain
- The wording given here follows Erik Butler’s English translation; the original work was written in German (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft).
Han pinpoints a modern paradox: a culture that insists ‘‘Nothing is impossible’’ can turn that promise into a demand, making personal failure feel like moral failure and producing exhaustion and depression.