Daily Inspiration Quote by Ernest Dimnet

Dimnet lands a priestly jab that feels less like moral scolding than social X-ray: the crowd doesn’t merely follow opinion, it waits for permission to have one. The sentence is built like a small trap. “Suspend their judgment” sounds civilized, even prudent, until the second clause reveals the real motive - not patience, but dependence. The timing matters: judgment is postponed not for evidence, but for an “else” to speak first. What follows isn’t agreement; it’s ventriloquism.

The subtext is about fear disguised as modesty. By framing conformity as “repeat it,” Dimnet strips away the flattering story people tell themselves (“I’m open-minded”) and replaces it with a harsher one (“I’m risk-averse”). It’s a critique of social belonging as an epistemology: we decide what’s true, safe, or respectable by reading the room. Dimnet’s choice of “somebody else” is pointedly vague. It could be an expert, a charismatic friend, a newspaper, a pulpit - the authority doesn’t matter as much as the abdication does.

Context sharpens the line. Dimnet lived through the age when mass newspapers, radio, and political movements professionalized consensus. As a priest, he would have watched moral formation collide with social fashion: confession and conscience versus the comfort of the majority. The intent isn’t anti-community; it’s pro-responsibility. He’s warning that when judgment becomes an echo, ethics and truth both get outsourced to whoever speaks first and loudest.