Where, where for shelter shall the guilty fly,
When consternation turns the good man pale?
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
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
Guilt is anger directed at ourselves
—Peter McWilliams (1949–2000) American Author, Activist
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
Forbear to lay the guilt of a few on the many.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
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
Where the guilt is doubtful, a presumption of innocence should in general be admitted.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
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
Men’s minds are too ready to excuse guilt in themselves.
—Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BCE–17 CE) Roman Historian
Guilt is present in the very hesitation, even though the deed be not committed.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Guilt is abscent when the act is justified
—Unknown
And then it started, like a guilty thing upon a fearful summons.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
To what gulfs
A single deviation from the track
Of human duties leads even those who claim
The homage of mankind as their born due,
And find it, till they forfeit it themselves!
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic 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
If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Merciful death! How you love your precious guilt.
—Anne Rice (1941–2021) American Author
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
Moralists and philosophers have adjudged those who throw temptation in the way of the erring, equally guilty with those who are thereby led into evil
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If any blame be attached to thee, be the first to declare it.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
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
Guilt soon learns to lie.
—Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835–1915) English Novelist
He through whose agency another has been falsely punished stands outside of heaven’s gates.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
We forget our guilt when we have confessed it to another, but the other does not usually forget it.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
He who denies his guilt doubles his guilt.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Neither side is guiltless if its adversary is appointed judge.
—Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39–65 CE) Roman Statesman, Latin Poet
They whose guilt within their bosom lies, imagine every eye beholds their blame.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
He declares himself guilty who justifies himself before accusation.
—Common Proverb
A guilty conscience never feels secure.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Nothing is more wretched that the mind of a man conscious of guilt.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.
—Philippine Proverb
I have half a conscience to go ahead and do it, and feel guilty afterwards
—Unknown
The ghostly consciousness of wrong.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
How tedious is a guilty conscience.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
Guiltiness will speak though tongues were out of use.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A land of levity is a land of guilt.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
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
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
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
Beside one deed of guilt, how blest is guileless woe!
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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
Those who guilt stains it equals.
—Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39–65 CE) Roman Statesman, Latin Poet
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
I esteem death a trifle, if not caused by guilt.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
Guilt’s a terrible thing.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
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