As painful as it is to receive contempt from another, it is more debilitating by far to be filled with contempt for another.
My own contempt for others is the most debilitating pain of all, for when I am in the middle of it - when I am seeing resentfully and disdainfully - I condemn myself to living in a disdained, resented world.
Make no mistake. The outward wars around us started because of an inwards war that went unnoticed: someone started seeing others as objects, and others used that as a justification for doing the same. This is the germ, and germination of war. When we are carrying this germ, we're just wars waiting to happen.