Margaret Deland Quotes

Conscience is our magnetic compass; reason our chart.

It is seldom very hard to do one's duty when one knows what it is, but it is often exceedingly difficult to find this out.

Practical wisdom is what's called for in situations that have a moral dimension to them.

Is it really so difficult to tell a good action from a bad one? I think one usually knows right away or a moment afterward, in a horrid flash of regret.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.

You cannot do wrong and feel right. It is impossible!

A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.

If a man has common sense, he has all the sense there is.

Conscience without judgment is superstition.

doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right

You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.

It's called common sense, but it's not common. Most people don't have it.

The difficulty is to know conscience from self-interest.

To be ashamed of one's immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one's morality.

Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.

In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best. In matters of prudence, last thoughts are best.

Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.

In the real world in which we live, you always have to choose between evils. And in choosing between evils, you have to have moral criteria for how to make those choices.

It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.

In my own life, I'm pretty good at choosing between good and bad. It's the choices between good and good I find the most difficult to make.

At the end of the day, if there are truly ethical considerations, those have to override scientific considerations.

You must always do what you feel is right.

I do what I think is right.

Before you do anything, you need to know if it's right or wrong.