Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.

This line is widely attributed to comedian and writer Jack Handey as one of his “Deep Thoughts,” a recurring faux-philosophical feature popularized on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. Handey’s “Deep Thoughts” parody the tone of earnest self-help aphorisms and moral advice by beginning with a familiar, well-meaning maxim and then swerving into an absurdly literal or selfish conclusion. The joke depends on the audience recognizing the older proverb about empathy (“walk a mile in someone’s shoes”) and then watching it get subverted into a petty, cartoonishly practical strategy for criticism and escape.

The quote satirizes the conventional counsel to cultivate empathy before judging others. By taking the metaphor literally—walking away with the person’s shoes—it exposes how moral platitudes can be hollowed out when filtered through self-interest. The humor comes from the abrupt shift from ethical reflection to opportunism: instead of understanding another’s experience, the speaker seeks distance and advantage. As with many “Deep Thoughts,” Handey’s line also pokes fun at the way aphorisms can sound profound while offering little real moral guidance, suggesting that sincerity and wisdom can be mimicked through familiar phrasing even when the underlying intent is cynical.