profane. My idea is that we ought to make the best of people, and
try as far as possible to be blind to their faults." "Unless their
fault happens to be criticism?" I said. My companion turned to me
very solemnly, and said: "I think we ought not to be afraid, if
necessary, of telling our friends about their faults; but that is
quite a different thing from amusing oneself by discussing their
faults with others." "Well" I said, "I believe that one is in a
much better position to speak to people about their faults, if one
knows them; and personally I think I arrive at a juster view both
of my friends' faults and virtues by discussing them with others. I
think one takes a much fairer view, by seeing the impression that
one's friends make on other people; and I think that I generally
arrive at admiring my friends more by seeing them reflected in the
mind of another, than I do when they are merely reflected in my own
mind. Besides, if one is possessed of critical faculties, it seems
to me absurd to rule out one part of life, and that, perhaps, the
most important--one's fellow-beings, I mean--and to say that one is
not to exercise the faculty of criticism there. You would not think
it wrong, for instance, to criticise books?" "No," said my
companion, "certainly not. I think that it is not only legitimate,
but a duty, to bring one's critical faculties to bear on books; it
is one of the most valuable methods of self-education." "And yet
books are nothing but an expression of an author's personality," I
said. "Would you go so far as to say that one has no business to
criticise one's friends' books?" "You are only arguing for the sake
of arguing," said my companion. "With books it is quite different;
they are a public expression of a man's opinions, and consequently
they are submitted to the world for criticism." "I confess," I
said, "that I do not think the distinction is a real one. I feel
sure one has a right to criticise a man's opinions, delivered in