When talking about a friend to Socrates: Said – Criticizing someone behind their back is a waste of time, it harms itself

Story

Socrates was a famous Greek philosopher. Whenever a person came to Socrates to talk about another person, he used to ask three questions. One day an acquaintance came to visit Socrates and said, ‘I want to talk to you about your friend.’

The friend of Socrates, about whom the conversation was to be held, lived somewhere far away. Socrates said to the acquaintance, ‘First you answer my three things. First, is what you are about to say to me true? You know that truth? Second, is what you want to say, a good thing or a bad thing? Third, is it my business? So let me listen to you.’

The acquaintance said, ‘I do not know the truth of this. I have also heard this from somewhere. I am going to talk to you. Not a good thing, because they are criticized. The third answer is that I do not know whether this thing is of your use or not, I do not know.

Socrates said, ‘Then stop this conversation here. Let’s talk about some other topic. To discuss and criticize a person behind his back is a waste of time. In this we do our own harm.

The familiar person understood how deeply Socrates thought.

Lessons

This story has made us understand one thing that we spend a lot of our time talking behind people’s backs, there is interest in condemning. When we criticize an absent person, his negativity descends within us. By doing this our thoughts also get corrupted. Criticism also has a bad effect on our lives.