quotations about conscience
Conscience is the only clue which will eternally guide a man clear of all doubts and inconsistencies.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to George Washington, May 10, 1789
The happy soul, in whose heart this peace of God hath erected her throne, has firmly resolved with Job, that holy sufferer, that his heart shall not reproach him, with any approven guile, so long as he lives. He goes not about to patch up a fatal peace betwixt his conscience and his lusts; (a very common dreadful mistake;) but if iniquity be in his hand, he puts it far away.
WILLIAM MCEWEN
Select Essays Doctrinal & Practical on a Variety of the Most Important and Interesting Subjects in Divinity
Notwithstanding, pestilence may surprise even the castle of motive; and it is a strange power (rising up out of the depth which speech cannot explore, nor thought even think of, as the eye cannot see vision) that by conscience we can lay down rules for conscience and train it by good exercise, which is, for aught we know, as if a member of the body, feeling its own weakness, should set itself at exercise to gain strength.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
Essays
Conscience ... seldom comes to a man's aid while he is in the zenith of health and revelling in pomp and luxury upon illgotten spoils. It is generally the last act of his life, and it comes too late to be of much service to others here, or to himself hereafter.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to John P. Posey, Aug. 7, 1782
Having a conscience is not the same as using it.
JOSTEIN GAARDER
Sophie's World
No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it.
STEFAN ZWEIG
Beware of Pity
Scourges, racks, and flames, can inflict no pains to be compared with the stings and tortures of a guilty conscience.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
If we neglect conscience, most evils are possible.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
The Vicar of Wakefield
Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates, though one often perceives irregularities in directing one's course by it, still one must try to follow its direction.
VINCENT VAN GOGH
Dear Theo: the Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh
Wicked men by specious errors and intoxicating pleasure contrive to lull conscience into a slumber; but when it wakes, its voice is louder than thunder, and its strokes keener than flashes of lightning.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
Storms in the Conscience will always lodge clouds in the countenance.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.
MARTIN LUTHER
On Marriage
Conscience, the organ of feeling which dominates us and of the opinions which rule us, is presumptuous in the strong, timid in the weak and unfortunate, uneasy in the undecided.
LUC DE CLAPIERS
MARQUIS DE VAUVENARGUES, Reflections and Maxims
Conscience after an evil act is like pulling stockings over muddy boots.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
There is one thing alone that stands the brunt of life throughout its course: a quiet conscience.
EURIPIDES
Hippolytus
Conscience is extinct among us, but it is said to still linger among the more savage tribes of Africa: proof that there is a pressing need for more missionaries.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
The relationship between the individual and God, the God-relationship, is the conscience.
SØREN KIERKEGAARD
Works of Love
Conscience therefore is a high and awful power; it is solo Deo minor, next and immediately under God, our judge.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
For conscience may be turned awry, or fall sick in a moral pestilence, like any other faculty.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
Essays