Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions.

The line criticizes a common moral double standard: we generalize about “other groups” from their most visible failures, yet excuse ourselves by appealing to our motives rather than our outcomes. It urges intellectual humility and fairness in social and political judgment—especially across lines of nationality, religion, race, or party—by insisting that intentions are not a privileged metric reserved for one’s own side. The quote also implies a practical ethic for public life: reducing prejudice and conflict requires resisting stereotyping and applying symmetrical standards of evaluation. In that sense it functions as a call to empathy and to more rigorous self-scrutiny.