Thou need’st not answer; thy confession speaks,
Already redd’ning in thy guilty cheeks.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
All religions remind us that actions have consequences for which guilt can and must be acknowledged, forgiveness humbly begged, reconciliation sought.
—Kenneth L. Woodward (b.1935) American Catholic Journalist, Editor
Those who start war often know that because of their high political position their own lives will not be in danger on the Diane Rehm Show.
—Jimmy Carter (b.1924) American Head of State, Military Leader
He who helps the guilty, shares the crime.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
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
Guilt is present in the very hesitation, even though the deed be not committed.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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
Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
No acquisitions of guilt can compensate the loss of that solid inward comfort of mind, which is the sure companion of innocence and virtue; nor can in the least balance the evil of that horror and anxiety which, in their room, guilt introduces into our bosoms.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
The worst guilt is to accept an unearned guilt.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
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
He is not guilty who is not guilty of his own free will.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Guilt is never a rational thing; it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them, it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
The gods Grow angry with your patience. ‘Tis their care, And must be yours, that guilty men escape not: As crimes do grow, justice should rouse itself.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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
Guilt is a rope that wears thin.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
However boldly their warm blood was spilt,
Their life was shame, their epitaph was guilt;
And this they knew and felt, at least the one,
The leader of the hand he had undone,—
Who, born for better things, had madly set
His life upon a cast, which linger’d yet.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
The mind of guilt is full of scorpions.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Life without industry is guilt, industry without art is brutality.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
In the small circle of pain within the skull
You still shall tramp and tread one endless round
Of thought, to justify your action to yourselves,
Weaving a fiction which unravels as you weave,
Pacing forever in the hell of make-believe
Which never is belief: this is your fate on earth
And we must think no further of you.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
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
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
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
Beside one deed of guilt, how blest is guileless woe!
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Guilt is a timorous thing ere perpetration; despair alone makes guilty men be bold.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
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
The guilty think all talk is of themselves.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
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