Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law.

Rules exist to serve something, and now and then serving it means breaking them. The honourable version of this is rare and costly, since it means knowing what the rule was for, accepting the penalty, and being right. The dishonest version is common and looks identical from the inside, so the reasoning deserves suspicion whenever it is convenient. Breaking a rule for the sake of what it protects is a different act from breaking it for yourself.

Whenever you are about to make an exception, ask who benefits and what you are willing to pay. Where the answer is that you benefit and it costs you nothing, keep the rule.