We do not make people humble and meek when we show them their guilt and cause them to be ashamed of themselves. We are more likely to stir their arrogance and rouse in them a reckless aggressiveness. Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us. There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman

True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 69 (1951)
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