"In a country of holier-than-thou's, no one thinks that it's a blatant lie" to cheat on your taxes.
Nor can the Bank's holier-than-thou sermonising be doing much to warm chilly relations with the disgraced finance ministry.
And as for the holier-than-thou Europeans, their targets and declarations of principles sound good, say sceptics, but are non-binding.
McFaul, meanwhile, understands that the Russians tend to value discretion very highly and that they do not take kindly to holier-than-thou public lectures.
In "Das Liebesverbot" (composed, given just once, and withdrawn when Wagner was 22), a holier-than-thou German viceroy comes to stamp out sin in Palermo.
Beneath the veneer of its squeaky-clean streets, super-efficient tram systems, rigorous banking principles and holier-than-thou Alpine churches lies a somewhat stranger city that is ready to surprise at every turn.
His television show has tens of millions of viewers, and his videos are watched on YouTube by millions more, who laugh at the powerful, the pretentious and the holier-than-thou.
One expat observes that Britain's left, faced with the erosion of civil liberties at home and a plausible Conservative victory at the next election, has difficulty feeling holier-than-thou when looking across at Barack Obama, the Democrats' probable candidate for president.
What I don't like about sustainable foodies and I'm considered one of them is that we carry an air of preachiness about food. (No one wants to be told what to eat, whether it's by your mother or by a group of holier-than-thou chefs.) But true sustainability is about more than just deciding to cook with local ingredients or not allowing your child to have corn syrup.
"I get tired of people that are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have, " Romney said.
CNN: In Iowa, GOP candidates spar over abortion, criticize Bush
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