“It is quite proper to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself.”
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Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: Gandhi, An Autobiography (The Story of My Experiments with Truth); reproduced in 'Gandhi's Life in His Own Words.'
About this quote
Aim your protest at the arrangement, not the human running it. The moment you make it personal, the other side stops hearing the argument and defends themselves instead, and since you are both caught inside the same flawed system, the hatred mostly poisons you.
When to use it
- An employee who criticizes a broken policy in a meeting without attacking the person who wrote it.
- A citizen who campaigns against an unfair law while treating the officials enforcing it with respect.
- A customer who names a company's bad process instead of berating the clerk stuck applying it.