Henry David Thoreau Quotes

I was tormented with guilt for years and years. In fact, it was so bad that if I didn't feel wrong, I didn't feel right!

Man, wretched man, whene'er he stoops to sin, Feels, with the act, a strong remorse within.

My conscience aches but it's going to lose the fight.

The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.

What is guilt? Guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show. Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.

I carry lots of guilt.

Guilt is a serious appetite killer.

When I get out, I get annoyed with myself.

There is some consensus: There's obsession, there's never satiety, and there's always remorse. For me, the big thing is that you're always breaking a promise - for example, you promise yourself you're just going to have coffee with a man, then before you know it, you're in bed together.

Few things are as bad as a guilty conscience.

He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure.

How awful is that hour when con, science stings.

Guilt and no guilt: these were the worst things. The only thing worse than the guilt was the fear of getting caught.

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.

I think remorse ought to stop biting the consciences that feed it.

I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing.

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.

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.

On the day, therefore, when I went to the church to be confirmed, with a number of others, I suffered extremely from the reproaches of my conscience.

Permanent remorse about failing to do your human duty, in my opinion, can be worse than losing your life.

Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.

Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.

I'd feel guilty just doing gags.

I don't lose sleep over what I have done or have nightmares about it.