It is well, when judging a friend, to remember that he is judging you with the same godlike and superior impartiality.

Bennett’s aphorism punctures the comforting illusion that we can appraise friends from a position of detached fairness. The phrase “godlike and superior impartiality” is ironic: when we judge, we often imagine ourselves elevated above bias, yet our friends are simultaneously forming their own assessments of us—equally convinced of their objectivity. The quote urges humility and reciprocity in moral evaluation. It suggests that friendship is a two-way mirror: criticism should be tempered by the awareness that we, too, are fallible and subject to scrutiny. In practice, it counsels restraint, empathy, and self-examination before passing verdicts on those close to us.