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Conscience: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Oh! think what anxious moments pass between The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods, Oh! 'tis a dreadful interval of time, Filled up with horror all, and big with death!— ADDISON — Cato. Act I. Sc. 3.
They have cheveril consciences that will stretch.— BURTON — Anatomy of Melancholy. Pt. III. Sec. IV. Memb. 2.
Subsect. 3. Why should not Conscience have vacation As well as other Courts o' th' nation? Have equal power to adjourn, Appoint appearance and return?— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto II. L. 317.
A quiet conscience makes one so serene! Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded That all the Apostles would have done as they did.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto I. St. 83.
But at sixteen the conscience rarely gnaws So much, as when we call our old debts in At sixty years, and draw the accounts of evil, And find a deuced balance with the devil.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto I. St. 167.
But quiet to quick bosoms is a hell, And there hath been thy bane.— BYRON — Childe Harold. Canto III. St. 42.
Nor ear can hear nor tongue can tell The tortures of that inward hell!— BYRON — The Giaour. L. 748.
There is no future pang Can deal that justice on the self condemn'd He deals on his own soul.— BYRON — Manfred. Act III. Sc. 1.
Yet still there whispers the small voice within, Heard through Gain's silence, and o'er Glory's din; Whatever creed be taught or land be trod, Man's conscience is the oracle of God.— BYRON — The Island. Canto I. St. 6.
The great theatre for virtue is conscience.— CICERO
The Past lives o'er again In its effects, and to the guilty spirit The ever-frowning Present is its image.— COLERIDGE — Remorse. Act I. Sc. 2.
When Conscience wakens who can with her strive? Terrors and troubles from a sick soul drive? Naught so unpitying as the ire of sin, The inappeas'ble Nemesis within.— ABRAHAM COLES — The Light of the
The still small voice is wanted.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. V. L. 687.
Oh, Conscience! Conscience! man's most faithful friend, Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend; But if he will thy friendly checks forego, Thou art, oh! woe for me, his deadliest foe!— CRABBE — Struggles of Conscience. Last
Lines. Conscience is harder than our enemies, Knows more, accuses with more nicety.— GEORGE ELIOT — Spanish Gypsy. Bk. I.
Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse.— GOLDSMITH — Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. XIII.
Man, wretched man, whene'er he stoops to sin, Feels, with the act, a strong remorse within.— JUVENAL — Satires. Satire XIII. L. 1.
Wm. Gifford's trans. He that has light within his own clear breast, May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day; But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon.— MILTON — Comus. L. 381.
Let his tormentor conscience find him out.— MILTON — Paradise Regained. Bk. IV.
S. L. 130. Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd, wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue!— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. L. 23.
O Conscience, into what abyss of fears And horrors hast thou driven me, out of which I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. X. L. 842.
Whom conscience, ne'er asleep, Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud, but deep.— MONTAIGNE — Essays. Bk. II. Ch. V.
Of Conscience. As the mind of each man is conscious of good or evil, so does he conceive within his breast hope or fear, according to his actions.— OVID — Fasti. Bk. I. 476-501.
Riley's trans. Let Joy or Ease, let Affluence or Content, And the gay Conscience of a life well spent, Calm ev'ry thought, inspirit ev'ry grace, Glow in thy heart, and smile upon thy face.— POPE — To Mrs. M. B., on her Birthday.
One self-approving hour whole years outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 255.
Some scruple rose, but thus he eas'd his thought, "I'll now give sixpence where I gave a groat; Where once I went to church, I'll now go twice- And am so clear too of all other vice." C.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 365.
True, conscious Honour is to feel no sin, He's arm'd without that's innocent within; Be this thy screen, and this thy wall of Brass.— POPE — First Book of Horace. Ep. I. L. 93.
What Conscience dictates to be done, Or warns me not to do; This teach me more than Hell to shun, That more than Heav'n pursue.— POPE — Universal Prayer.
But there is a higher law than the Constitution.— WM. H. SEWARD — Speech. March 11,
1850. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, Where death's approach is seen so terrible!— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. II. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 5.
Better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstacy.— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 19.
Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devised at first to keep the strong in awe.— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 309.
I hate the murderer, love him murdered. The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour, But neither my good word nor princely favour: With Cain go wander through shades of night, And never show thy head by day nor light.— Shakespeare — Richard II. Act V. Sc. 6. L. 40.
I know myself now; and I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities; A still and quiet conscience.— Shakespeare — Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 377.
I know thou art religious, And hast a thing within thee called conscience, With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies, Which I have seen thee careful to observe.— Shakespeare — Titus Andronicus. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 75.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain.— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 193.
Now, if you can blush and cry "guilty," cardinal, You'll show a little honesty.— Shakespeare — Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 306.
Soft, I did but dream. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 179.
The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st, And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends!— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 222.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 83.
'Tis a blushing shamefast spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles.— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 141.
Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. S.— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 79.
Trust that man in nothing who has not a Conscience in everything.— STERNE — Tristram Shandy. Bk. II. Ch. XVII.
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called Conscience. и.— GEORGE WASHINGTON — Moral Maxims.
Virtue and Vice. Conscience. Men who can hear the Decalogue and feel No self-reproach.— WORDSWORTH — The Old Cumberland Beggar. L. 136.
Hic murus aëneus esto, Nil conscire sibi, nullâ pallescere culpâ. Be this thy brazen bulwark, to keep a clear conscience, and never turn pale with guilt.— HORACE — Epistolæ. I. 1. 60.
Conscia mens ut cuique sua est, ita concipit intra Pectora pro facto spemque metumque suo. According to the state of a man's conscience, so do hope and fear on account of his deeds arise in his mind.— OVID — Fasti. I. 485.
Nihil est miserius quam animus hominis conscius. Nothing is more wretched than a guilty conscience.— PLAUTUS — Mostellaria. III. 1. 13.
Sic vive cum hominibus, tanquam deus videat; sic loquere cum deo, tanquam homines audiant. Live with men as if God saw you; converse with God as if men heard you.— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium. X.
Tant la plume a eu sous le roi d'avantage sur l'épée. So far had the pen, under the king, the superiority over the sword.— SAINT SIMON — Mémoires. Vol. III.
P. 517 (1702). Ed. 1856. Tel maître, tel valet. As the master so the valet. Like master, like man. Attributed to CHEVALIER BAYARD by M. Ciniber. Einem ist sie die hohe, die himmlische Göttin, dem andern Eine tüchtige Kuh, die ihn mit Butter versorgt. To one it is a mighty heavenly goddess, to the other an excellent cow that furnishes' him with butter.— SCHILLER — Wissenschaft.
Was glänzt ist für den Augenblick geboren; Das Aechte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren. What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; What's genuine, shall posterity inherit.— GOETHE — Faust. Vorspiel auf dem Theater. L. 41.
L'ape e la serpe spesso Suggon l'istesso umore; The bee and the serpent often sip from the selfsame flower.— METASTASIO — Morte d' Abele. I.
La conscience des mourants calomnie leur vie. The conscience of the dying belies their life.— VAUVENARGUES — Réflexions.
O dignitosa coscienza e netta, Come t'è picciol fallo amaro morso. O faithful conscience, delicately pure, how doth a little failing wound thee sore!— DANTE — Purgatorio. III. 8.
Se tosto grazia risolva le schiume Di vostra conscienza, si che chiaro Per essa scenda della mente il fiume. So may heaven's grace clear away the foam from the conscience, that the river of thy thoughts may roll limpid thenceforth.— DANTE — Purgatorio. XIII. 88.