In the days when Charles William Eliot was the longest ever President of Harvard University (1869-1909), a student did something wrong and was brought to the President’s office to be disciplined.The President said to him, “Give me your excuses and your justification,” and he gave him a fair hearing.
The student used every possible excuse he could for his behavior and finally he burst out and said, “Why, sir, you know that there are not more than ten people on this campus who wouldn’t have done exactly as I did in these circumstances.”
The President looked at the student and said, “Did it ever occur to you that you might be one of the ten?”
Geoff Pound
Image: Charles William Eliot