A bad conscience has a very good memory.
—Unknown
The foundation of true joy is in the conscience.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Be fearful only of thyself, and stand in awe of none more than of thine own conscience.—There is a Cato in every man—a severe censor of his manners.—And he that reverences this judge will seldom do anything he need repent of.
—Richard Burton (1925–84) Welsh Actor
Conscience is the dog that can’t bite, but never stops barking.
—Common Proverb
Conscience tells us that we ought to do right, but it does not tell us what right is—that we are taught by God’s word.
—Henry Clay Trumbull (1830–1903) American Army Chaplain, Evangelist
Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of his conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life.
—Norman Cousins (1912–1990) American Political Journalist
Conscience is the mirror of our souls which represents the errors of our lives in their full shape.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
Conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses.
—Italian Proverb
Tenderness of conscience is always to be distinguished from scrupulousness. The conscience cannot be kept too sensitive and tender; but scrupulousness arises from bodily or mental infirmity, and discovers itself in a multitude of ridiculous, superstitious, and painful feelings.
—Richard Cecil
Conscience doth make cowards of us all.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Though the dungeon, the scourge, and the executioner be absent, the guilty mind can apply the goad and scorch with blows.
—Lucretius (c.99–55 BCE) Roman Epicurean Poet, Philosopher
A quiet conscience makes one so serene.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
—Omar Bradley (1893–1981) American Military Leader
We cannot live better than in seeking to become better, nor more agreeably than in having a clear conscience.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
A clear conscience is a good pillow.
—French Proverb
Conscience is the internal perception of the rejection of a particular wish operating within us.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
No ear can hear nor tongue can tell the tortures of the inward hell!
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Conscience has nothing to do as lawgiver or judge; but is a witness against me if I do wrong, and which approves if I do right. To act against conscience is to act against reason and God’s Law.
—Austin Phelps (1820–90) American Presbyterian Clergyman, Educator, Theologian
Conscience is a man’s compass.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
The conscience is the most flexible material in the world. Today you cannot stretch it over a mole hill; while tomorrow it can hide a mountain.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that somebody may be looking.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
A good conscience fears no witness, but a guilty conscience is solicitous even in solitude.—If we do nothing but what is honest, let all the world know it.—But if otherwise, what does it signify to have nobody else know it, so long as I know it myself?—Miserable is he who slights that witness.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Seven Social Sins
Politics without principles
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
A clear conscience is a soft pillow.
—Common Proverb
Every human being has a work to carry on within, duties to perform abroad, influences to exert, which are peculiarly his, and which no conscience but his own can teach.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Conscience serves us especially to judge of the actions of others.
—Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) Swiss Poet
A magazine editor recently asked me to sit down on my 40th birthday and write an article on the most important things I had learned in my first 40 years. I told him that the chief thing I had learned was that the copybook maxims are true, but that too many people forget this once they go out into the heat and hustle and bustle of the battle of life and only realize their truth once one foot is beginning to slip into the grave. The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
Conscience is the true vicar of Christ in the soul; a prophet in its information; a monarch in its peremptoriness; a priest in its blessings or anathemas, according as we obey or disobey it.
—John Henry Newman (1801–90) British Theologian, Poet
Conscience, true as the needle to the pole points steadily to the pole-star of God’s eternal justice, reminding the soul of the fearful realities of the life to come.
—Ezra Hall Gillett