Home » Wrongful Convictions » Want of Courage: Recommended Reflections for the Italian Judges of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito

Want of Courage: Recommended Reflections for the Italian Judges of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito

From “Prudence and Justice with Six Antique Wisemen” by Pietro Perugino

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect. ~Henry David Thoreau

To find out if she really loved me, I hooked her up to a lie detector. And just as I suspected, my machine was broken. ~Jarod Kintz

A spirit of suspicion is not the gift of discernment. ~R. Alan Woods

If the Tiber rises too high, or the Nile too low, the remedy is always feeding Christians to the lions. ~Tertullian

Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit. ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed. ~Jonathan Swift

Positive (adj.): Mistaken at the top of one’s voice. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary

“I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being–forgive me–rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.” ~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. ~Mahatma Gandhi

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. ~Salvador Dalí

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. ~Plato, The Republic

The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them. ~Orson Scott Card

Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes. ~George Soros

When you have faults, do not be afraid to abandon them. ~Confucius

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works. ~Saint Augustine

All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride. ~Sophocles

From “Prudence and Justice with Six Antique Wisemen” by Pietro Perugino

True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive. ~Mignon McLaughlin

And a step backward, after making a wrong turn, is a step in the right direction. ~Kurt Vonnegut

Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it. ~Joseph Conrad

I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means – except by getting off his back. ~Leo Tolstoy

To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage. ~Confucius

We made too many wrong mistakes. ~Yogi Berra

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes. ~Confucius

Things refuse to be mismanaged for long. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

While you’re saving your face, you’re losing your ass. ~Lyndon B. Johnson