Conscience is defined as a sense of moral responsibility to people and society for one's own actions. It is assumed that each person is able to experience this emotion in certain situations.
The morality of the 21st century refers to this phenomenon in two ways: on the one hand, everyone should have it, and on the other hand, it is almost indecent to demonstrate it. This can be clearly seen if you read popular quotes about conscience.
Statements of ancient philosophers about human conscience
The ability of a person to be responsible to his own mind was the subject of reflection in ancient Greece. This is confirmed by many famous quotes from great people about conscience:
- To awaken shame in a scoundrel, you need to give him a slap in the face (Aristotle).
- Wounds of the soul never heal (Publius Syr).
- To have a clear conscience - not to know sins (Horace).
- Consciousness of one's own rightness is dearer than life (Euripides).
The moral obligations of man were given attention in subsequent centuries. Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot ("The power of man is in the awareness of the evil done"), Goethe, Kant and almost all writers and poets, includingKhayyam and Pushkin ("Clawed Beast Scraping the Heart").
On conscience in the XX-XXI centuries
Over the past 100 years, the attitude to human morality has become more and more ironic, according to the principle "what cannot be sung, it is worth laughing at".
Ironic and mocking quotes about conscience only in 30% of cases have authors. Others are created by unknown people and are very popular.
- He has a clear conscience. Was not used (A. Blok).
- A clear conscience is a wonderful pillow (S. Lets).
- Echoes of lost virtue.
- Prisoners of conscience guarded by prisoners of duty.
- A bribe is the moment of the triumph of reason over conscientiousness.
- Conscience is a bit like a brake. That's just manual.
- Knowledge of the law makes it difficult to judge fairly.
- Educated young lady. She does not talk to those who do not want to listen to her.
In general, ironic banter over morality and morality is not evidence of any degradation of society. Rather, it is a reflex defense and an attempt to reduce emotional tension. Humorous quotes about conscience are used in everyday life, they designate and describe various situations when a person had an ethical choice.