"we are rarely as good as the best thing we've done, but neither are we as bad as the worst thing we've ever done"

 quotes:

We should judge people - political candidates, our neighbors, or even ourselves - in more nuanced ways than we typically do. Singular acts, good or bad, should be taken seriously, but they should not typically bear the sole burden of defining our judgments about the moral worth of anyone. . . .

I am not saying anything goes. There are folks who habitually say stupid or offensive things. There are folks who relentlessly hurt others. And there are folks with whom we disagree across the board. I am not saying that we should overlook these patterns. I am simply recommending that we judge the particulars in terms of the bigger picture of someone's life as it has been lived.

In sum, at least in the moral domain, we are rarely as good as the best thing we've done, but neither are we as bad as the worst thing we've ever done.

~ Christopher Peterson Ph.D.

Are We as Bad as the Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done?

The Good Life blog, Posted January 20, 2012

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/201201/are-we-bad-the-worst-thing-we-ve-ever-done