Guilt, though it may attain temporal splendor, can never confer real happiness; the evil consequences of our crimes long survive their commission, and, like the ghosts of the murdered, forever haunt the steps of the malefactor; while the paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
It is criminal to steal a purse, daring to steal a fortune, a mark of greatness to steal a crown. The blame diminishes as the guilt increases.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Guilt hath very quick ears to an accusation.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Those who guilt stains it equals.
—Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39–65 CE) Roman Statesman, Latin Poet
How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Oh, she is fallen into a pit of ink that the wide sea hath drops too few to wash her clean again!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Every man bears something within him that, if it were publicly announced, would excite feelings of aversion.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
How guilt once harbour’d in the conscious breast , Intimidates the brave, degrades the great.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Guilt alone, like brain-sick frenzy in its feverish mood, fills the light air with visionary terrors, and shapeless forms of fear.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
Guilt’s a terrible thing.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
We are almost always guilty of the hate we encounter.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
That deed which in our guilt we today call weakness, will appear tomorrow as an essential link in the complete chain of Man.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
The guilt that feels not its own shame is wholly incurable.—It was the redeeming promise in the fault of Adam, that with the commission of his crime came the sense of his nakedness.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Novelist, Historian
Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
These false pretexts and varnished colours failing,
Rare in thy guilt how foul must thou appear.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
It is the inevitable end of guilt that it places its own punishment on a chance which is sure to occur.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided. No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.
—Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) American Civil War General, Head of State
Haste, holy Friar,
Haste, ere the sinner shall expire!
Of all his guilt let him be shriven,
And smooth his path from earth to heaven!
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Guiltiness will speak though tongues were out of use.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Guilt, on the contrary, like a base thief, suspects every eye that beholds him to be privy to his transgressions, and every tongue that mentions his name to be proclaiming them.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Guilt has always its horrors and solicitudes; and, to make it yet more shameful and detestable, it is doomed often to stand in awe of those to whom nothing could give influence or weight but their power of betraying.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Beside one deed of guilt, how blest is guileless woe!
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Adversity, how blunt are all the arrows of thy quiver in comparison with those of guilt.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
It is base to filch a purse, daring to embezzle a million, but it is great beyond measure to steal a crown. The sin lessens as the guilt increases.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
It is quite gratifying to feel guilty if you haven’t done anything wrong: how noble! Whereas it is rather hard and certainly depressing to admit guilt and to repent.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
Nothing is more wretched that the mind of a man conscious of guilt.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
He who denies his guilt doubles his guilt.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Where the guilt is doubtful, a presumption of innocence should in general be admitted.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
Sin with the multitude, and your responsibility and guilt are as great and as truly personal, as if you alone had done the wrong.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
He who is present at a wrongdoing and does not lift a hand to prevent it, is as guilty as the wrongdoers.
—American Indian Proverb
Guilt is present in the very hesitation, even though the deed be not committed.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
Let wickedness escape, as it may at the bar, it never fails of doing justice upon itself; for every guilty person is his own hangman.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
They who engage in iniquitous designs miserably deceive themselves when they think they will go so far and no farther; one fault begets another; one crime renders another necessary; and thus they are impelled continually downward into a depth of guilt, which at the commencement of their career they would have died rather than have incurred.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Punishment closely follows guilt as its companion.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Thoughts cannot form themselves in words so horrid As can express my guilt.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
There are no greater prudes than those women who have some secret to hide.
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
A guilty conscience never feels secure.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
The guilty think all talk is of themselves.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer
—William Blackstone (1723–80) English Judge, Jurist, Academic
What we call real estate—the solid ground to build a house on—is the broad foundation on which nearly all the guilt of this world rests.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Men’s minds are too ready to excuse guilt in themselves.
—Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BCE–17 CE) Roman Historian
Whatever guilt is perpetrated by some evil prompting, is grievous to the author of the crime. This is the first punishment of guilt that no one who is guilty is acquitted at the judgment seat of his own conscience.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
Guilt is a timorous thing ere perpetration; despair alone makes guilty men be bold.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
He who flees judgment confesses his guilt.
—Anonymous
All good men and women should be on their guard to avoid guilt, and even the suspicion of it.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
Guilt is ever at a loss, and confusion waits upon it.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher