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O coward conscience, how doth thou afflict me? ... My conscience hath a thousand several tongues. William Shakespeare, Richard III V v 133 & 147, King Richard
Conscience is but a word that cowards use. ibid. III V vi 39
Gloucester, ’tis true that we are in great danger;
The greater therefore should our courage be ...
There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out –
For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both beautiful and good husbandry,
Besides, there are our outward consciences,
And preachers to us all, admonishing
That we should dress us fairly for our end.
Thus may we gather honey from the weed
And make a moral of the devil himself. William Shakespeare, Henry V IV i 1-14, King Harry to Gloucester
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word.
O heavy burden! William Shakespeare, Hamlet III i 50-55, King
How tedious is a guilty conscience. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Cardinal, BBC 2014
It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own. Thomas Jefferson
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. Mark Twain
Courage without conscience is a wild beast. Robert Ingersoll
I would rather die than help you ease your conscience. Star Trek: Voyager s1e15: Jetrel
I have no conscience. Hermann Goering
People with a clear conscience have nothing to be scared of. Saddam’s Tribe, Saddam, Channel 4 2007
Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna II iv, 1775
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. John Calvin
Conscience is a man’s compass. Vincent van Gogh
I chose conscience. Anthony Blunt
There is one thing alone that stands the brunt of life throughout its course: a quiet conscience. Euripides, Hippolytus
Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends. H L Mencken, 1880-1956, US editor
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking. H L Mencken
O pure and noble conscience, how bitter a sting to thee is a little fault! Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321, Divina Commedia Purgatorio canto 3
Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Then, without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that a quiet conscience makes one strong. Anne Frank
Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, ‘Something is out of tune’. Carl Jung
I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God. I don’t know. But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do. Christopher Reeve
When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? Eleanor Roosevelt
This week Horizon looks at a dilemma. The dilemma of the scientist who try as he might cannot reconcile with his conscience the fear that his discoveries may eventually be used to the detriment of mankind. Horizon: For the Safety of Mankind, BBC 1969
A conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. Acts 24:16
High on the agenda for the 21st century will be the need to restore some kind of tragic consciousness. Carlos Fuentes, Mexican novelist & writer
Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. John Milton
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it. Albert Einstein
The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us. Sophocles
The second pain which will afflict the souls of the damned in hell is the pain of conscience. Just as in dead bodies worms are engendered by putrefaction, so in the souls of the lost there arises a perpetual remorse from the putrefaction of sin, the sting of conscience, the worm, as Pope Innocent the Third calls it, of the triple sting. James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
‘Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.’ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness. Terence McKenna
The growing consciousness is a danger and a disease. Friedrich Nietzsche
Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything. Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman