090Japanese proverb ことわざ
我が身をつねって人の痛さを知れ
わがみをつねってひとのいたさをしれWaga mi o tsunette hito no itasa o shire
“Pinch yourself to know another's pain.”
The meaning
Empathy begins with a detour: feeling on yourself what you are about to inflict or judge. Before blaming, feel.
At the origin
A proverb of moral education, learned from childhood.
The characters
- 我が wagaone's own
- 身 mibody
- を o(object)
- つねって
- 人
- の
- 痛さ
- を
- 知れ
をParticleMarks the object: what the action falls upon.
In practice
Before a criticism, imagine receiving it yourself, on your fragile days.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 089 人の振り見て我が振り直せ Watch others' conduct and mend your own.
- 274 明日は我が身 Tomorrow, it may be me.
- 291 花の色は移りにけりないたづらに我が身世にふるながめせしまに The color of the flowers has faded, while I watched the long rains fall — and my life go by.
- 017 井の中の蛙大海を知らず The frog at the bottom of the well knows nothing of the great ocean.
- 038 情けは人のためならず Kindness is never wasted.