Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.

The saying uses a simple comparison to puncture the common impulse to “fix” other people. By directing attention to the stubbornness of one’s own habits, it argues for humility: if self-change is arduous despite intimate self-knowledge, then changing others is even more uncertain. The implication is not fatalism but a shift in strategy—focus on self-discipline, model the behavior you want to see, and recognize the limits of control. Ethically, it discourages moralizing and manipulation; psychologically, it acknowledges that lasting change usually requires internal motivation rather than external pressure.