“The wise men say that to judge a man properly, we must principally look at his routine activities and surprise him in his everyday dress.” In other words, do not judge someone by their most heroic moments, judge them by their ordinary days, the way they attend to their duties, and the habits they form. Their routines that demonstrate true virtue.
To do this properly, we should also overlook or at least discount the worst moments. Try not to turn anyone into a hero or villain, try to see everyone as ordinary. The object is not to push people towards mediocrity, but rather to accept the value of small consistent virtues over large, risky, flashy ones.
One must wonder if this is possible for human beings, knowing how we are. We are drawn to stories of the best and worst. We are disinterested in the banal. This returns to rewards of honor: if we cannot find ways to celebrate routine good, we will forever be stuck in a cycle of heroes and villains, often determined by the point of view of people looking to attain and hold power.