Clay Feet

"Kind words are the music of this world. There is hardly a power on earth equal to them. It is by voice and words that men influence each other. Happiness and kindness go together. The double rewards of kind words is the happiness they cause in others and the happiness they cause in ourselves."

- F. W. Faber


The following is about innate flaws in everyone, not about looking for flaws in others:

FEET OF CLAY -

"The phrase comes from the Old Testament (Dan.2:31-33). There the Hebrew captain Daniel interprets a dream for Nebuchadnezzar, founder of the new Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a giant idol with golden head, silver arms and chest, brass thighs and body, and iron legs. Only the feet of this image, compounded of iron and potter's clay, weren't made wholly of metal. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the clay feet of the figure made it vulnerable, that it prophesied the breaking apart of his empire. Over the years readers of the Bible were struck with the phrase 'feet of clay' in the story and it was used centuries ago to describe an unexpected flaw or vulnerable point in the character of a hero or any admired person." From the ‘Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins’ by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

“31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. 32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.” (Daniel 2:31-33 - KJV)