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Conscience Quotes

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Conscience Quotes

“As a reformer the liberal is dissatisfied with things as they are because they violate his exceptionally tender conscience.... Liberalism does not advocate change for its own sake, but for the sake of something better in the direction of what he regards as good, namely, the maximum of liberty consistent with a regard for all men and all interests -- the general happiness based on peace and justice.”

MenDoeInterestJusticeLibertyConscienceRegardSakeLiberalismConsistentMaximumSomething BetterPeace And JusticeDissatisfiedReformers
Author:Ralph Barton Perry
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“Raymond Aron ascribes to Weber the view that 'each man's conscience is irrefutable.' ... while [Weber] holds that an agent may be more or less rational in acting consistently with his values, the choice of any one particular evaluative stance or commitment can be no more rational than any other. All faiths and all evaluations are equally non-rational.”

MenMayValuesChoicesViewsActingParticularConscienceCommitmentRationalAgentsConsistentlyStanceEvaluationWeber
Author:Alasdair MacIntyre
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“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
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“Man, full of emptiness and torn apart with homesickness for the desert has had to create from within himself an adventure, a torture-chamber, an unsafe and hazardous wilderness- this fool, this prisoner consumed with longing and despair, became the inventor of 'bad conscience'.”

MenAdventureFoolDespairConscienceLongingDesertTortureEmptinessWildernessPrisonerTornChamberConsumedInventorHomesicknessUnsafeTorn Apart
Book:Nietzsche: 'On the Genealogy of Morality' and Other Writings Student Edition
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“And so the blasts of calumny, howl they ever so fiercely over the good man's head, contribute to his juster appreciation and to his wider fame. Preserve only a good conscience toward God, and a loving purpose toward your fellow men, and you need not wince nor tremble, though the pack of the spaniel-hearted hounds snarl at your heels.”

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Book:Lectures and Sermons
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“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
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“Perhaps there is no greater test of a man's regularity and easiness of conscience than his readiness to face the postman. Blessed is he who is made happy by the sound of a rat-tat! The good are eager for it; but the naughty tremble at the sound thereof.”

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Book:The History of Pendennis: Christie's Collections
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“Conscience is the voice of the soul, the passions are the voice of the body. Is it astonishing that often these two languages contradict each other, and then to which must we listen? Too often reason deceives us; we have only too much acquired the right of refusing to listen to it; but conscience never deceives us; it is the true guide of man; it is to man what instinct is to the body; which follows it, obeys nature, and never is afraid of going astray.”

MenTwoSoulReasonBodyPassionLanguageVoiceToo MuchConscienceInstinctGuidesDeceivingAstonishing
Author:Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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“The truly great consider, first, how they may gain the approbation of God, and, secondly, that of their own conscience. Having done this, they would then willingly conciliate the good opinion of their fellow-men. But the truly little reverse the thing. The primary object with them is to secure the applause of their fellow-men; and having effected this, the approbation of God and their own conscience may follow on as they can.”

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Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
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“In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself; another is but one witness against thee, thou art a thousand; another thou mayest avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment.”

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Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
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“Remorse of conscience is like an old wound; a man is in no condition to fight under such circumstances. The pain abates his vigor and takes up too much of his attention.”

MenPainFightingAttentionToo MuchConditionsCircumstancesConscienceWoundsRemorseVigorOld Wounds
Book:Pearls of Great Price: or, Maxims, reflections, characters and thoughts, on miscellaneous subjects ... Selected from the works of the Rev. Jeremy Collier by the editor of
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“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
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“In the wildest anarchy of man's insurgent appetites and sins there is still a reclaiming voice,--a voice which, even when in practice disregarded, it is impossible not to own; and to which, at the very moment that we refuse our obedience, we find that we cannot refuse the homage of what ourselves do feel and acknowledge to be the best, the highest principles of our nature.”

MenFeelsStillsMomentsVoiceSinPrinciplesPracticeImpossibleHighestConscienceRefuseObedienceAcknowledgeBeing The BestAnarchyAppetiteHomageInsurgentDisregarded
Book:On the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man by Thomas Chalmers
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“Freedom of religion is one of the greatest gifts of God to man, without distinction of race and color. He is the author and lord of conscience, and no power on earth has a right to stand between God and the conscience.”

MenEarthReligionRaceLordColorConscienceDistinctionGreatest GiftsGift From GodFreedom Of ReligionRace And Color
Book:Church and State in the United States ; Or, The American Idea of Religious Liberty and Its Practical Effects: With Official Documents
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“Regardless of nationality, all men are brothers. God is "our Father who art in heaven." The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is unconditional and inexorable. ... The lowly Nazarene taught us the doctrine of non-resistance, and so convinced was he of the soundness of that doctrine that he sealed his belief with death on the cross. ... When human law conflicts with Divine law, my duty is clear. Conscience, my infallible guide, impels me to tell you that prison, death, or both, are infinitely preferable to joining any branch of the Army.”

MenHumansArtLawFatherBeliefHeavenClearTaughtDivineBrotherDutyConflictConscienceCrossesArmyPrisonGuidesConvincedResistanceDoctrineBranchesCommandmentsUnconditionalOur FatherNationalityJoiningTaught UsInfallibleInexorableClear ConscienceSoundnessDivine LawNazarene
Author:Ben Salmon
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“I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall be said of me-He was murdered in cold blood”

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Book:The Doctrine and Covenants: Of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Containing the Revelations
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“Tis a blushing shame-faced spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom. It fills a man full of obstacles. It made me once restore a purse of gold that (by chance) I found. It beggars any man that keeps it.”

MenMadeSpiritFoundChanceConscienceGoldShameObstaclesBosomsBeggarPursesBlushingMutiny
Book:First Tetralogy In Plain and Simple English: Includes Henry VI Parts 1 - 3 & Richard III
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“The longer men sin, the more easily they can; for every act of transgression weakens conscience, stupefies intellect, hardens hearts, adds force to bad habits, and takes force from good example. And, surely, there is nothing in such associations; as wicked affinities will insure to the sinner in the future state, to incline him to repentance.”

MenHeartStatesForceSinExampleHabitConscienceAddIntellectWickedSinnerRepentanceAssociationBad HabitsAffinityGood ExamplesTransgressionIncline
Author:Edward Thomson
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