Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Difference Between Confidence And Sanctimony

Justice Byron White [UPDATE: Always check your citations! "flatearthakitt" rightly reminds me that it was actually Potter Stewart] once famously observed that he didn't know how to define the line between pornography (legally permissible) and obscenity (subject to legal sanction), but he knew it when he saw it.

It strikes me that one could make the same observation about the distinction between self-confidence and sanctimony. Not sure I could identify precisely where the line between one and the other is, but I sure hope that this guy at least waved when he breezed past it.

2 comments:

Flatearthakitt said...

Um...Wasn't it Potter Stewart?

James Young said...

D'oh! You're right. Thanks.