Daily Inspiration Quote by Thomas Fuller

“Bad excuses are worse than none” lands like a moral slap delivered with a pastor’s calm. Fuller, a 17th-century English clergyman writing in an era obsessed with duty, reputation, and public character, isn’t just warning against laziness. He’s warning against the insult embedded in a flimsy alibi: the way a weak excuse tries to smuggle disrespect into the conversation under the cover of explanation.

The line’s power is its harsh economy. It doesn’t bother distinguishing between an excuse and a reason; it treats the excuse as a performance - a story told to manage how you look after you’ve failed. A “bad” one compounds the original fault because it adds a second offense: it signals you think the listener is gullible, or that your image matters more than your obligation. Silence, by contrast, can read as accountability. No excuse means you at least grant the situation its seriousness.

Fuller’s clerical context matters. As a preacher and moralist, he’s policing not only behavior but the self-justifying narratives people use to launder wrongdoing. In a Christian ethical frame, confession beats rationalization; owning failure is closer to repentance than inventing a thin story to evade consequence.

There’s also a social lesson tucked inside. Communities run on trust, and trust collapses fastest when people feel manipulated. A bad excuse doesn’t merely fail to convince; it advertises the speaker’s willingness to bend reality. Fuller’s warning is practical: if you must be guilty, don’t add contempt.