We are always inclined to justify ourselves before anyone who holds us responsible for an emotional action by saying that we acted only on an outburst of affect and are not usually in that condition. When it concerns ourselves we are glad to explain the affect as an exceptional condition of diminished responsibility but are reluctant to make the same allowance for others. Even if this is a not very edifying attempt to absolve our beloved ego, there is still something positive in the feeling of justification such an excuse affords: it is an attempt to distinguish oneself from one's own affect, and hence one's fellow man from his affect. Even if my excuse is only a subterfuge, it is nevertheless an attempt to cast doubt on the validity of affect as the sole index of personality, and to appeal to other psychic functions that are just as characteristic of it as the affect, if not more so. When a man judges us by our affects, we readily accuse him of lack of understanding, or even injustice. But this puts us under an obligation not to judge others by their affects either.

by Carl Gustav Jung