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He who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones: meaning?

Posted by ESC on September 27, 2003

In Reply to: He who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones: meaning? posted by aberration on September 26, 2003

: I wonder what this phrase means. can anybody enlighten me please?

Don't gossip about people if you have secrets of your own.

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES - "Those who are vulnerable should not attack others. The proverb has been traced back to Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde' . George Herbert wrote in 1651: 'Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another.' This saying is first cited in the United States in 'William & Mary College Quarterly' . Twenty-six later Benjamin Franklin wrote, 'Don't throw stones at your neighbors', if your own windows are glass.' 'To live in a glass house' is used as a figure of speech referring to vulnerability." From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

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