We're remarkably skilled at spotting the flaws in others—their contradictions, their self-deceptions, their convenient rationalizations—precisely because we stand outside their story. But judge ourselves? We're trapped inside our own narratives, armed with a thousand subtle justifications we don't even recognize as justifications. Saint-Exupéry isn't merely saying self-awareness is hard; he's suggesting that impartiality itself becomes nearly impossible when we're the subject. Notice how a friend can see in five minutes why your relationship isn't working, yet you spent two years manufacturing reasons to stay—not out of stupidity, but because you needed the story to mean something.