"When a just man cannot see any excuse for what is done by a person in whose general worth he believes, he still refrains from judging him, and leaves all to God’s Judgment." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"Most assuredly the sin of rash judgments is a spiritual jaundice, which makes everything look amiss to those who have it." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"And so ought we always to judge our neighbor as charitably as may be; and if his actions are many-sided, we should accept the best." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"They who drink the juice of the Ethiopian herb Ophiusa imagine that they see serpents and horrors everywhere; and those who drink deep of pride, envy, ambition, hatred, will see harm and shame in everyone they look upon. The first can only be cured by drinking palm wine, and so I say of these latter: [...]
"Some there are who seek to excuse and justify themselves to their own conscience, by assuming readily that others are guilty of the same faults, or as great ones, vainly imagining that the sin becomes less culpable when shared by many." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., [...]
"Of a truth, hasty judgments are most displeasing to God, and men’s judgments are hasty, because we are not judges one another, and by judging we usurp our Lord’s own office. Man’s judgment is hasty, because the chief malice of sin lies in the intention and counsel of the heart, which is shrouded in darkness [...]
"One of the most evil dispositions possible is that which satirizes and turns everything to ridicule. God abhors this vice, and has sometimes punished it in a marked manner. Nothing is so opposed to Charity, much more to a devout spirit, as contempt and depreciation of one’s neighbor, and where satire and ridicule exist contempt [...]
"The first inducement to attain this second purification is a keen and lively apprehension of the great evils resulting from sin, by means of which we acquire a deep, hearty contrition." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.
"Be sure, my daughter, that if you seek to lead a devout life, you must not merely forsake sin, but you must further cleanse your heart from all affections pertaining to sin; for, to say nothing of the danger of a relapse, these wretched affections will perpetually enfeeble your mind, and clog it, so that [...]
"If you love God heartily, my child, you will often speak of Him among your relations, household, and familiar friends, and that because 'the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.'" Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002.