--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is surely better to pardon too much…" description: "\"It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much.\" — George Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png" --- # It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn… ![“It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png) > “It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much.” [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Excessive judgment harms more than excessive forgiveness, so err on the side of mercy. **In simple terms:** Forgive more, condemn less. Key Takeaway Choose compassion over harsh judgment. Themes mercy judgment ethics Mood reflective empathetic Type moral philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - legal decisions - conflict resolution Key Concepts utilitarianism moral philosophy Questions to Reflect On - When have you chosen mercy over condemnation? - What are the risks of over‑forgiving? A Different Perspective Compassion can be abused if it enables harmful behavior. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Forgiveness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiveness/) [Judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judgment/) [Pardon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pardon/) ## Related quotes > [If there is something to pardon in everything, there is also something to condemn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/if-there-is-something-to-pardon-in-everything-there-is-also-something/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [If we all become successful, there may not be a winner nor a loser, but life will surely be better for everyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-mark/if-we-all-become-successful-there-may-not-be-a-winner-nor-a-loser-but/) [Terry Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-mark/) > [To consider hypotheses is surely always better than to dogmatize ins blaue hinein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/to-consider-hypotheses-is-surely-always-better-than-to-dogmatize-ins/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Surely it's better to live in the country, to live on a prairie by a drawing of rivers, in Iowa or Illinois or Indiana,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/surely-it-s-better-to-live-in-the-country-to-live-on-a-prairie-by-a/) [William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/) > [My tongue is prone to lose the way,Not so my pen, for in a letterWe have not better things to say,But surely put them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/my-tongue-is-prone-to-lose-the-way-not-so-my-pen-for-in-a-letterwe/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [For the purposes of life and conduct, and society, a little good sense is surely better than all this genius, and a little good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/for-the-purposes-of-life-and-conduct-and-society-a-little-good-sense/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [Slowly but surely, we have much better female roles to play and to choose from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madchen-amick/slowly-but-surely-we-have-much-better-female-roles-to-play-and-to/) [Madchen Amick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madchen-amick/) > [Arrogant and right is surely better than humble and wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-arbuthnot/arrogant-and-right-is-surely-better-than-humble-and-wrong/) Geoff Arbuthnot > [Surely there must be a better gift God could have given us than life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-o-donoghue/surely-there-must-be-a-better-gift-god-could-have-given-us-than-life/) [Michael O'Donoghue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-o-donoghue/) > [I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/i-beg-your-pardon-correct-english-is-the-slang-of-prigs-who-write/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [I have always been thinking of the different ways in which Christianity is taught, and whenever I find one way that makes it a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/i-have-always-been-thinking-of-the-different-ways-in-which/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [A perverted moral judgment belongs to the dogmatic system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/a-perverted-moral-judgment-belongs-to-the-dogmatic-system/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/goodness-is-of-a-modest-nature-easily-discouraged-and-when-much/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Going to the extreme of inviting and welcoming people into your church in order to hear you condemn them or to know from your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-engela/going-to-the-extreme-of-inviting-and-welcoming-people-into-your/) [Christina Engela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-engela/) > [If you condemn someone who has committed a crime to be tortured, that would be unconstitutional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-scalia/if-you-condemn-someone-who-has-committed-a-crime-to-be-tortured-that/) [Antonin Scalia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-scalia/) ## More by George Eliot > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-the-effect-of-her-being-on-those-around-her-was-incalculably/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Scepticismcan never be thoroughly applied, else life would come to a standstill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/scepticismcan-never-be-thoroughly-applied-else-life-would-come-to-a/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/under-every-guilty-secret-there-is-hidden-a-brood-of-guilty-wishes/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [The most powerful movement of feeling with a liturgy is the prayer which seeks for nothing special, but is a yearning to escape from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-most-powerful-movement-of-feeling-with-a-liturgy-is-the-prayer/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [ “\[W\]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Mr. Casaubon had never had a strong bodily frame, and his soul was sensitive without being enthusiastic: it was too languid to thrill out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/mr-casaubon-had-never-had-a-strong-bodily-frame-and-his-soul-was/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“... she took her husband's jokes and joviality as patiently as everything else, considering that "men would be so", and viewing the stronger sex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/she-took-her-husband-s-jokes-and-joviality-as-patiently-as-everything/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [What is opportunity to the man who can't use it? An unfecundated egg, which the waves of time wash away into nonentity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/what-is-opportunity-to-the-man-who-can-t-use-it-an-unfecundated-egg/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/and-of-course-men-know-best-about-everything-except-what-women-know/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But let the wise be warned against too great readiness at explanation: it multiplies the sources of mistake, lengthening the sum for reckoners sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-let-the-wise-be-warned-against-too-great-readiness-at-explanation/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But any one watching keenly the stealthy convergence of human lots, sees a slow preparation of effects from one life on another, which tells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-any-one-watching-keenly-the-stealthy-convergence-of-human-lots/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings languish, may not become picturesque through aerial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/perspective-as-its-inventor-remarked-is-a-beautiful-thing-what/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Sane people did what their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/sane-people-did-what-their-neighbours-did-so-that-if-any-lunatics/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [even those who call themselves 'intimate' know very little about each other - hardly ever know just how a sorrow is felt, and hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/even-those-who-call-themselves-intimate-know-very-little-about-each/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) [Explore all 1,492 George Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## More Condemn quotes > [If you condemn someone who has committed a crime to be tortured, that would be unconstitutional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-scalia/if-you-condemn-someone-who-has-committed-a-crime-to-be-tortured-that/) [Antonin Scalia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-scalia/) > [“Going to the extreme of inviting and welcoming people into your church in order to hear you condemn them or to know from your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-engela/going-to-the-extreme-of-inviting-and-welcoming-people-into-your/) [Christina Engela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-engela/) > [When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-there-is-injustice-dare-to-be-the-first-to-condemn-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Fix, commit, condemn yourself”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/fix-commit-condemn-yourself/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [...The people love him. So how can we condemn him?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-zuma/the-people-love-him-so-how-can-we-condemn-him/) [Jacob Zuma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-zuma/) > [It is rash to condemn where you are ignorant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/it-is-rash-to-condemn-where-you-are-ignorant/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me. Set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen. Because sometimes truth isn't good enough. Sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-bale/you-ll-hunt-me-you-ll-condemn-me-set-the-dogs-on-me-because-that-s/) [Christian Bale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-bale/) > [Many governments are quick to condemn Assad, but a dwindling number of them would celebrate a rebel victory in Damascus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-engel/many-governments-are-quick-to-condemn-assad-but-a-dwindling-number-of/) [Richard Engel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-engel/) > [I condemn all statements - made in sincerity or jest - that threaten or suggest the use of violence against the president of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-broun/i-condemn-all-statements-made-in-sincerity-or-jest-that-threaten-or/) [Paul Broun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-broun/) > [The wretch condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on hope relies; And every pang that rends the heart Bids expectation rise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/the-wretch-condemn-d-with-life-to-part-still-still-on-hope-relies-and/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [We like to think the best of ourselves. We like to believe we always say and do the right things. We like to believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/we-like-to-think-the-best-of-ourselves-we-like-to-believe-we-always/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [Condemn me, it does not matter: history will absolve me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fidel-castro/condemn-me-it-does-not-matter-history-will-absolve-me/) [Fidel Castro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fidel-castro/) > [“Lewis Richardson wrote that his quest to analyze peace with numbers sprang from two prejudices. As a Quaker, he believed that "the moral evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/lewis-richardson-wrote-that-his-quest-to-analyze-peace-with-numbers/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“this other man within us, has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him; speak to him; condemn him; upbraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-martyn-lloyd-jones/this-other-man-within-us-has-got-to-be-handled-do-not-listen-to-him/) [D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-martyn-lloyd-jones/) > [The U.N. Security Council did not to condemn the Qana massacre, due to the U.S. veto.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hassan-nasrallah/the-u-n-security-council-did-not-to-condemn-the-qana-massacre-due-to/) [Hassan Nasrallah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hassan-nasrallah/) Browse all 185 Condemn quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-than-to-condemn-too-much/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Condemn" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-than-to-condemn-too-much/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/george-eliot-84_condemn_it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-t_1321147.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much.” — George Eliot", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Eliot", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is surely better to pardon...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-than-to-condemn-too-much/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-surely-better-to-pardon-too-much-than-to-condemn-too-much/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```