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That we should try to see ourselves as others see us is a rule well illustrated by R. H. Haweis in what he says on learning to play the violin:
I had found means to make the flimsiest strings yield up sounds which I need not here characterize, and to such purpose that it became a question of some interest how long such sounds could be endured by the human ear. I do not mean my own. All violinists, including infants on the eighteen-penny ones, admit that to their own ear the sounds produced are nothing but delightful; it is only those who do not make them who complain.
(2871)
Self-examination—See [Self-inspection.]
SELF-FLATTERY
We are all of us susceptible to the good opinions of others, and sometimes we are apt to fall into the bad habit of lauding ourselves. An illustration of this is seen in the following:
Once when Moltke heard himself compared to Cæsar, Turenne, Marlborough, Wellington, and others, he remarked: “No; I have no right to rank with such great captains, for I have never commanded a retreat”—which at the same time conveyed a subtle compliment to himself. Bismarck was equally subtle when he was asked whom he thought to have been the ablest plenipotentiary at the Congress of Berlin. “I don’t know about the ablest,” he replied with a grim smile, “but the next ablest was certainly Lord Beaconsfield.” (Text.)
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