“I really know nothing more criminal, more mean, and more ridiculous than lying. It is the production either of malice, cowardice, or vanity; and generally misses of its aim in every one of these views.” — Philip Stanhope, Letters To His Son (1747-09-21)
“Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.” — Sir Winston Churchill, “Royal Assent,” Speech in the House of Commons (1916-05-17)
“There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people; we are laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.” — Eric Hoffer, “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer, Including: ‘Absolute Faith Corrupts Absolutely,’” The New York Times Magazine (25 April 1971)
from The Critical 7 Rules To Understand People
Rule One: Never blame malice for what can easily be explained by conceit. i.e. Remember the spotlight effect and avoid the fundamental attribution error.
People don’t care about you as much as you think they do; They are mostly focused on themselves.
e.g. 60% of thoughts are self-directed; my goals, problems, feelings.
30% on relationships; what people think of me, how they have or will act towards me.
10% on empathy; split between everyone.
What does this mean?
Related:
The Critical 7 Rules To Understand People (scotthyoung.com)
Spotlight effect (wikipedia.org)
How Could They Not Notice
Fundamental attribution error (wikipedia.org)
From My Notebook – Page 14 [Criticism (Receiving) and Attitude]
“I think most men had rather be charged with malice than with making a blunder.” — Josh Billings, The Complete Works of Josh Billings
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