Quotessence
Home / Topics / Conscience Quotes

Conscience Quotes

Browse 3008 quotes about Conscience.

Related topics

MenIfsPeopleHeartWorldKnowsShouldMayThinkingHumansLawSoulDoeWayMindClearMoralBelieveLibertyReasonVoiceGivingSinFeelsEvilWellsSocialIndividualStatesClear ConscienceWantActionFirstsReligiousSelfDutyPersonsNeedsMatterHas BeensGuiltyGovernmentJusticeLongMeanTryingBodyLooksNationsStillsWarIntegrityEndsGuiltKindLittlesCharacterCountrySpiritSufferingAuthorityLeadershipHandsRightsChildrenDoneForceJudgmentPoliticalVirtueChristianFeelingsGuilty ConscienceLyingTurnsArtAtheismFactsHelpingJudgingMadeNamesSpeakValuesMightBeliefInterestOpinionPrinciplesQuietAmericaChristI CanLifeLightMoralityReligionResponsibilityWholeEnoughmore

Conscience Quotes

“Above all, you ask if the God of Christians forgives those who do not believe and who do not seek faith. Given the premise, and this is fundamental, that the mercy of God is limitless for those who turn to him with a sincere and contrite heart, the issue for the unbeliever lies in obeying his or her conscience.”

IfsFirstsBelieveHeartChristianLyingTurnsAsksLimitsConscienceMercyFundamentalsForgivingAsk MeSincereBelieve In GodPremisesObeyingMercy Of God
Author:Pope Francis
Create image

“Even today we raise our hand against our brother... We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves as if it were normal we continue to sow destruction, pain, death. Violence and war lead only to death.”

IfsIdeasWarHandsTodayPainViolenceBrotherNormalWeaponsConscienceDestructionRaisesFallenJustifyViolence And WarPain Death
Book:Embracing the Way of Jesus: Reflections from Pope Francis on Living Our Faith
Create image

“The only life worth living is the adventurous life. Of such a life the dominant characteristic is that it is unafraid. If is unafraid of what other people think . . . It does not adapt either its pace or its objectives to the pace and objectives of its neighbors. It thinks its own thoughts, it reads its own books, it developed its own hobbies, and it is governed by its own conscience. The herd may graze where it pleases or stampede where it pleases, but he who lives the adventurous life will remain unafraid when he finds himself alone.”

PeopleIfsThinkingMayDoeBookPleaseConscienceNeighborObjectivesCharacteristicsPaceDominantHobbiesWorth LivingAdventurousHerdsUnafraidLife Worth LivingAdventurous LifeStampede
Author:Raymond B. Fosdick
Create image

“We ought to be very cautious in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty, and may be the origin of a number of petty acts of tyranny if the legislator be not on his guard; for as such an accusation does not bear directly on the overt acts of a citizen, but refers to the idea we entertain of his character.”

IfsMayDoeTwoIdeasCharacterLawReligionIndividualJusticeNumbersLibertyMagicCrimeBearsOughtCitizensConscienceTyrannyPersecutionPettyCautiousHeresyLegislatorsAccusationIndividual RightsProsecution
Author:Baron de Montesquieu
Create image

“Look, I don't know whether God exists. I don't know that. And I tell you one thing, I am not frightened of my beliefs. If there is a God who is threatening me with damnation because I don't believe in Him, so be it. I've lived my life in conscience, and I will suffer damnation willingly in conscience against a tyrannical God who would damn me because, on the basis of the intelligence He gave me, I have come to a conclusion doubting His existence, and I will continue to be a skeptic all of my life.”

IfsKnowsBelieveLooksSufferingBeliefExistenceDoubtOne ThingConscienceBasesDon't BelieveConclusionDamnFrightenedThreateningSkepticDamnationGod ExistsIf There Is A GodWhether God Exists
Author:Alan Dershowitz
Create image

“Nonviolence is a powerful as well as a just weapon. If you confront a man who has long been cruelly misusing you, and say, "Punish me, if you will; I do not deserve it, but I will accept it, so that the world will know I am right and you are wrong," then you wield a powerful and a just weapon. This man, your oppressor, is automatically morally defeated, and if he has any conscience, he is ashamed.”

IfsKnowsMenWorldWellsLongPowerfulAcceptingWeaponsConscienceDeserveAshamedNonviolenceDefeatedOppressors
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Segregation, as even the segregationists know in their hearts, is morally wrong and sinful. If it weren't, the white South would not be haunted as it is by a deep sense of guilt for what it has done to the Negro - guilt for patronizing him, degrading him, brutalizing him, depersonalizing him, thingifying him; guilt for lying to itself. This is the source of the schizophrenia that the South will suffer until it goes through its crisis of conscience.”

IfsKnowsHeartDoneLyingSufferingWhiteSourceConscienceCrisisGuiltSouthSegregationSchizophreniaDegradingPatronizing
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Equity is a roguish thing. For Law we have a measure, know what to trust to; Equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. 'T is all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a "foot" a Chancellor's foot; what an uncertain measure would this be! One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot. 'T is the same thing in the Chancellor's conscience.”

IfsKnowsShouldLongLawFeetStandardsConscienceThirdsIndifferentUncertainEquityOne Chance
Author:John Selden
Create image

“My Christian brethren, if the crowd of difficulties which stand between your souls and God succeed in keeping you away, all is lost. Right into the Presence you must force your way, with no concealment, baring the soul with all its ailments before Him, asking, not the arrest of the consequences of sin, but the cleansing of the conscience " from dead works to serve the living God," so that if you must suffer, you will suffer as a forgiven man.”

IfsMenWaySoulChristianSufferingLostForceSinSucceedConscienceConsequenceDifficultyAskingCrowdsYour SoulForgivenBrethrenCleansingAilmentsConcealmentConsequences Of Sin
Author:Frederick William Robertson
Create image

“Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed. But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so: we still shall have the proud consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departed shade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment and adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, we never faltered in defending.”

IfsThinkingHeartMayStillsCountryCausesFailingProudSucceedJudgmentConscienceDisasterOur CountryChainsTortureShadeConsolationApprovedDeparted
Book:The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)
Create image

“What is a great man who has made his mark upon history? Every time, if we think far enough, he is a man who has looked through the confusion of the moment and has seen the moral issue involved; he is a man who has refused to have his sense of justice distorted; he has listened to his conscience until conscience becomes a trumpet call to like-minded men, so that they gather about him, and together, with mutual purpose and mutual aid, they make a new period in history.”

IfsThinkingMenMadeEnoughMomentsTogetherPurposeJusticeMoralHistoryIssuesInvolvedPeriodsConscienceMarkAidsConfusionGreat MenMutualTrumpetsMoral IssuesMutual Aid
Author:Jane Addams
Create image

“When one does another person an injustice, in some mysterious way it does one good to discover (or to persuade oneself) that the injured party has also behaved badly or unfairly in some little matter or other; it is always a relief to the conscience if one can apportion some measure of guilt to the person one has betrayed.”

IfsWayLittlesPersonsDoeMatterPartyConscienceGuiltInjusticeOneselfBetrayalMysteriousReliefBetrayedInjuredMysterious Ways
Author:Stefan Zweig
Create image

“One good Man may take another's Word, if they so agree, but a whole Nation ought never to trust to any Honesty, but what is built upon Necessity; for unhappy is the People, and their Constitution will be ever precarious, whose Welfare must depend upon the Virtues and Consciences of Ministers and Politicians.”

PeopleIfsMenMayWholeNationsVirtueHonestyDependsOughtPoliticianConscienceBuiltConstitutionAgreeUnhappyMinistersWelfareGood ManPrecarious
Author:Bernard de Mandeville
Create image

“The faith towards God in Christ must be sure and steadfast, that it may solace and make glad the conscience, and put it to rest. When a man has this certainty, he has overcome the serpent; but if he be doubtful of the doctrine, it is for him very dangerous to dispute with the devil.”

IfsMenMayChristDangerousDevilConscienceOvercomingGladDoctrineCertaintyDisputesSolaceDoubtfulSerpentSteadfast
Book:The table talk or familiar discourse of Martin Luther, tr. by W. Hazlitt
Create image

“The whole life of Christians ought to be an exercise of piety, since they are called to sanctification. It is the office of the law to remind them of their duty and thereby to excite them to the pursuit of holiness and integrity. But when their consciences are solicitous how God may be propitiated, what answer they shall make, and on what they shall rest their confidence, if called to his tribunal, there must then be no consideration of the requisitions of the law, but Christ alone must be proposed for righteousness, who exceeds all the perfection of the law.”

IfsMayWholeChristianLawChristAnswersDutyOughtExerciseIntegrityOfficeConsciencePerfectionWhole LifePursuitHolinessConsiderationRighteousnessExceedPietySanctificationTribunalsChrist Alone
Book:On God and Political Duty: Calvin
Create image

“If we move away from the American tradition of lawyers defending those with whom they vehemently disagree -- as we temporarily did during the McCarthy period -- we weaken our commitment to the rule of law... So beware of an approach which limits advocacy to that which is approved by the standards of political correctness.”

IfsMovingLawPoliticalPoliticsJusticeResponsibilityPeriodsLimitsApproachStandardsRespectConscienceCommitmentTraditionLawyerToleranceHypocrisyDisagreeRule Of LawPolitical CorrectnessApprovedCorrectnessAdvocacyAmerican Tradition
Book:Letters to a Young Lawer (Easyread Large Edition)
Create image

“It is quite certain that, if from childhood men were to begin to follow the first intimations of conscience, honestly to obey them and carry them out into act, the power of conscience would be so strengthened and improved within them, that it would soon become, what it evidently is intended to be, "a connecting principle between the creature and the Creator."”

IfsMenFirstsWould BeCertainPrinciplesChildhoodCreaturesConscienceCreatorHonestlyConnecting
Author:John Campbell Shairp
Create image

“The Spirit of Justice is the single most important seed Piers planted; if you don't live by its teaching, your chance of salvation is nil. Unless Conscience and the Cardinal Virtues form the food that people live on, just take my word for it, they're utterly lost - every single living soul among them!”

PeopleIfsImportantSoulWisdomFormSpiritPoliticsLostJusticeChanceEconomyVirtueTeachingConscienceSalvationSeedsLiberalismLive ByCardinalsPiers
Author:William Langland
Create image

“The establishment of religious freedom was no less momentous an achievement than the clearing of the great forest or the winning of independence, for the twin doctrines of separation of church and state and liberty of individual conscience are the marrow of our democracy, if not indeed America's most magnificent contribution to the freeing of Western man.”

IfsMenStatesAmericaWinningIndividualChurchReligiousLibertyDemocracyAtheismAchievementConscienceIndependenceWesternPositive AtheismSeparationForestsDoctrineContributionEstablishmentTwinsMagnificentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateReligious FreedomClearingMarrow
Author:Clinton Rossiter
Create image

“Conscience is justice's best minister; it threatens, promises, rewards, and punishes and keeps all under control; the busy must attend to its remonstrances, the most powerful submit to its reproof, and the angry endure its upbraidings. While conscience is our friend all is peace; but if once offended farewell the tranquil mind.”

IfsMindJusticePowerfulPromiseConscienceAngryRewardsEndureBusyMinistersMost PowerfulSubmitFarewellOffendedTranquilReproof
Author:Mary Wortley Montagu
Create image

“Demean thyself more warily in thy study than in the street. If thy public actions have a hundred witnesses, thy private have a thousand. The multitude looks but upon thy actions; thy conscience looks into them: the multitude may chance to excuse thee, if not acquit thee; thy conscience will accuse thee, if not condemn thee.”

IfsLooksMayActionChanceStudyStreetsThousandHundredConscienceExcuseWitnessTheeRetirementMultitudesThyself
Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
Create image

“If any speak ill of thee, flee home to thy own conscience, and examine thy heart: if thou be guilty, it is a just correction; if not guilty, it is a fair instruction: make use of both; so shalt thou distil honey out of gall, and out of an open enemy create a secret friend.”

IfsHeartUseHomeSpeakSecretEnemyConscienceFairsIllGuiltyTheeHoneyInstructionSlanderCorrectionsNot Guilty
Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
Create image

“No man is happier than he who loves and fulfills that particular work for the world which falls to his share. Even though the full understanding of his work, and of its ultimate value, may not be present with him; if he but love it--always assuming that his conscience approves--it brings an abounding satisfaction.”

IfsMenWorldMayValuesFallUnderstandingWorkShareParticularConscienceUltimateAssumingSatisfaction
Book:Life, Its Nature, Varieties&phenomena. 4th Ed
Create image

“There is seemingly no biological benefit to acting with conscience; if there were, only moral individuals would survive and procreate. Sadly, we know that's not true. The benefit of conscience is that you won't suffer guilt (private) or shame (public), and that by your own self-imposed definition, you are a moral human, a special kind of animal who takes unique pride in elevating him/herself above the termites.”

IfsKnowsHumansKindSelfSufferingIndividualAnimalActingMoralSpecialPrideBenefitsUniqueConscienceShameGuiltDefinitionsElevating
Book:How Could You Do That?!: Abdication of Character, Courage, Consci
Create image

“When our laws tell people that what lies behind the thin wall of a women's abdomen during pregnancy is not a human being and that the destiny of a preborn child lies with the private conscience of the mother, we are essentially telling society that life itself is not important enough to be called an inalienable right. If life itself is not the most fundamental of all rights, then what is?”

PeopleIfsHumansChildrenImportantEnoughLawLyingMotherHuman BeingsBehindsDestinyRightsWallConscienceFundamentalsPregnancyAbdomen
Author:Bob Dornan
Create image

“If people will be censors, let them weigh their words. I mean that the words were unfair by that disproportionateness of the condemnation, which everybody with some conscience must feel to be one of the great difficulties in denouncing a particular person. Every unpleasant dog is only one of many, but we kick him because he comes in our way, and there is always some want of distributive justice in the kicking.”

PeopleIfsWayWantFeelsMeanPersonsJusticeDogParticularConscienceDifficultyKicksUnfairKickingCondemnation
Book:Life and letters
Create image