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Conscience Quotes: Insights into Our Inner Voice

Curator of Inspiring Quotes and Wise Words

May 15, 2023 6:00 AM EST

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Discover the power of conscience and the importance of following our inner voice with these thought-provoking conscience quotes that inspire us to live with integrity, compassion, and purpose.

Here, you can find a wide array of conscience quotes that are relevant as well as authentic.

Most of these quotes are associated with popular figures around the world.

Hence, you won’t hesitate to share these quotes with your friends and family.

In addition to our quotes section, we have also discussed the term conscience and its various associated aspects.

You may also enjoy reading these related articles:

So, let’s start without any further ado!

What is Meant by the Term Conscience?

Conscience is a term that refers to a fundamental aspect associated with human nature.

To put it simply, conscience is a sense of right and wrong.

It helps us while guiding our emotions, thoughts, and actions.

Therefore, our conscience is an innate sense of morality, allowing us to make moral and ethical decisions.

Conscience Explained

Our conscience is considered an inner voice that lets us differentiate between right and wrong.

It could be referred to as a moral compass, which guides our actions and decisions.

However, it isn’t a physical organ but an intangible concept.

It is based on a concept that has been debated for centuries.

Some scholars argue that conscience is innate, while others suggest it is learned through socialization and experience.

Conscience and Decision-making

Conscience tends to play a critical role when it comes to making a decision.

With a powerful conscience, we can differentiate between right and wrong.

Conscience helps us make choices that don’t coincide with our principles and values.

How Conscience is Developed

Conscience continues to develop throughout one’s life.

It begins when a child starts to understand his/her surroundings.

So, with time we develop our conscience.

Below are the factors that play their role in the development of our conscience:

Experiences
Upbringing
Education
Social interactions

Conscience and Society

Conscience isn’t just an individual concept.

On the contrary, it is a societal one.

This means our society plays a pivotal role in shaping our conscience.

For instance, social values and norms influence our concept of right or wrong.

As a result, conscience tends to influence our actions and behavior while living in a particular society.

Is it Necessary to Listen to Our Conscience?

No doubt, listening to one’s conscience is necessary for development and personal growth.

If you ignore your conscience, it could lead to feelings like shame, guilt, or demise.

Furthermore, it could also damage your relationships with people around you.

So it would be better to listen to your conscience.

Top 10 Conscience Quotes

These are the top 10 conscience quotes for your reading pleasure.

1. “A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.” — Elizabeth I

2. “A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.” — Steven Wright

3. “The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.” — John Calvin

4. “There is nothing more dangerous than the conscience of a bigot.” — George Bernard Shaw

5. “Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.” — Albert Einstein

6. “The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.” — B. C. Forbes

7. “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” — Mark Twain

8. “Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.” — H. L. Mencken

9. “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” — Edmund Burke

10. “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.” — George Washington

The following conscience quotes have facts related to conscience.

11. “A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.” — Albert Camus

12. “In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best. In matters of prudence, last thoughts are best.” — Robert Hall

13. “Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that ‘a quiet conscience makes one strong!’” — Anne Frank

14. “There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.” — Mahatma Gandhi

15. “No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It’s because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise and demand – demand – demand change.” — Joe Biden

16. “Peace demands the most heroic labor and difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.” — Thomas Merton

17. “Every judgment of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins.” — Thomas Aquinas

18. “Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.” — Thomas Jefferson

19. “Fasting is, first and foremost, an exercise for identifying and managing adversity in all its forms. With faith, in full conscience, fasting calls women and men to an extra degree of self-awareness.” — Tariq Ramadan

20. “The fact is, when men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them – neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all.” — Fidel Castro

Conscience Quotes About Others Conscience

Here are some conscience quotes about others’ consciences that will benefit from knowing about other people’s consciences.

21. “Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.” — Richard Bach

22. “What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?” — Adam Smith

23. “If a dog does not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.” — Woodrow Wilson

24. “To doubt God is to doubt one’s own conscience, and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything; and then what is life for?” — Jose Rizal

25. “The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surround them; their notions of good and evil are the result of the moral atmosphere they breathe.” — Jean-Paul

26. “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

27. “Every human has four endowments – self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.” — Stephen Covey

28. “When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society.” — Pope John Paul II

29. “I think the currency of leadership is transparency. You’ve got to be truthful. I don’t think you should be vulnerable every day, but there are moments where you’ve got to share your soul and conscience with people and show them who you are, and not be afraid of it.” — Howard Schultz

30. “You have emotions, you have thoughts, you have a will, and you have a conscience. You are a complex being! And Jesus came to heal every single part of you. There’s not one part that He doesn’t want to make completely whole.” — Joyce Meyer

Personal Conscience Quotes

The following quotes are about the personal conscience of the authors that will help you learn from their experience.

31. “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashion.” — Lillian Hellman

32. “I did what my conscience told me to do, and you can’t fail if you do that.” — Anita Hill

33. “I work hard, I work late, I have nothing on my conscience. When I go to bed, I sleep.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

34. “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” — John Milton

35. “I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all, and I’m going to buy a Suburban next time.” — Jerry Falwell

36. “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me, God. Amen.” — Martin Luther

37. “I don’t run a car, have never run a car. I could say that this is because I have this extremely tender environmentalist conscience, but the fact is I hate driving.” — David Attenborough

38. “I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience yet tells me that I gave a good, honest vote, and one that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day of judgment.” — Davy Crockett

39. “I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.” — Leonardo da Vinci

40. “It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don’t regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn’t save: Marines, soldiers, and buddies. I’m not naive, and I don’t romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job.” — Chris Kyle

Realistic Conscience Quotes

Following are some conscience quotes based on reality. So, let’s check out what we’ve got here.

41. “All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

42. “There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.” — Sophocles

43. “The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.” — Bertrand Russell

44. “A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.” — Sydney Smith

45. “Disco music in the ’70s was just a call to go wild and party and dance with no thought or conscience or regard for tomorrow.” — Martha Reeves

46. “The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it, but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it.” — Madame de Stael

47. “The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear of death.” — Voltaire

48. “There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience or none at all.” — Ogden Nash

49. “Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” — Ingmar Bergman

50. “The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other.” — Douglas MacArthur