If, as we who study ourselves have learned to do, every one who
hears a good sentence, would immediately consider how it applies to his
own case, he would find that it is not so much an excellent saying
as an excellent blow at the usual
stupidity of his own judgment; but we receive the precepts and
admonitions of truth as directed to the common people, never to
ourselves; and instead of applying them to our morals, do
only very ignorantly and unprofitably commit them to memory.
-- Michel de Montaigne. "Of Custom" Essays (1575)