O Conscience, into what abyss of fears
And horrors hast thou driven me, out of which
I read more

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.

Let his tormentor conscience find him out.

Let his tormentor conscience find him out.

They have cheveril consciences that will stretch.

They have cheveril consciences that will stretch.

Guilty consciences always make people cowards.

Guilty consciences always make people cowards.

Oh! think what anxious moments pass between
The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods,
Oh! read more

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!

He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.

He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.

Whom conscience, ne'er asleep,
Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud, but deep.

Whom conscience, ne'er asleep,
Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud, but deep.

Be this thy brazen bulwark, to keep a clear conscience, and never
turn pale with guilt.
[Lat., Hic read more

Be this thy brazen bulwark, to keep a clear conscience, and never
turn pale with guilt.
[Lat., Hic murus aeneus esto,
Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.]

He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day:
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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 his own dungeon.