In Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of Atticus's most often repeated lessons of life to his children concerns his explanation that one must climb into another person's skin and walk around in it to completely understand them.
"If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
Atticus first refers to this strategy in Chapter 3 when he convinces Scout not to give up on school or her teacher, Miss Caroline, who had criticized Atticus earlier. His lecture also covers Scout's feelings about Walter Cunningham, who joined the Finch children for lunch that day. Scout applied it herself during Jem's change of behavior in Chapter 7 after his harrowing visit to the Radley house to regain his lost pants.
I tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next afternoon. So I left Jem alone and tried not to bother him.
And Scout applied it when she finally got to meet Boo and walk him home after he had saved her life.
Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.
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