Dinah Craik Quote

"Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear," is a cynical saying, and yet less bitter than at first appears. It does not argue that human nature is false, but simply that it is human nature. How can any fallible human being with two eyes, two ears, one judgment, and one brain — all more or less limited in their apprehensions of things external, and biased by a thousand internal impressions, purely individual — how can we possibly decide on even the plainest actions of another, to say nothing of the words, which may have gone through half-a-dozen different translations and modifications, or the motives, which can only be known to the Omniscient Himself?


Ch. 8; Craik is sometimes credited with originating the proverb "Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear" — but in this passage she appears to be merely quoting it - A Woman's Thoughts About Women (1858)


Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear, is a cynical saying, and yet less bitter than at first appears. It does not argue that...

Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear, is a cynical saying, and yet less bitter than at first appears. It does not argue that...

Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear, is a cynical saying, and yet less bitter than at first appears. It does not argue that...

Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear, is a cynical saying, and yet less bitter than at first appears. It does not argue that...