Charles Darwin Quotes About Conscience

Quotes about: Conscience

• I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess something very like conscience.

  Charles Darwin

  Dog, Training, Agree

  Charles Darwin (1872). “The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.75

• It is not the conscience which raises a blush, for a man may sincerely regret some slight fault committed in solitude, or he may suffer the deepest remorse for an undetected crime, but he will not blush... It is not the sense of guilt, but the thought that others think or know us to be guilty which crimsons the face.

  Charles Darwin

  Regret, Men, Emotional

  Charles Darwin (1874). “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”, p.332

• Ultimately a highly complex sentiment, having its first origin in the social instincts, largely guided by the approbation of our fellow-men, ruled by reason, self-interest, and in later times by deep religious feelings, confirmed by instruction and habit, all combined, constitute our moral sense or conscience.

  Charles Darwin

  Religious, Men, Self

  Charles Darwin (2010). “Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies”, p.427, OUP Oxford

• Of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important. This sense, as Mackintosh remarks, "has a rightful supremacy over every other principle of human action"; it is summed up in that short but imperious word "ought," so full of high significance. It is the most noble of all the attributes of man, leading him without a moment's hesitation to risk his life for that of a fellow-creature; or after due deliberation, impelled simply by the deep feeling of right or duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause.

  Charles Darwin

  Sacrifice, Animal, Men

  "The Descent of Man: Human Sexuality".

• I fully subscribe to the judgement of those writers who maintain that of all the differences between man and the lower animal, the moral sense of conscience is by far the most important....It is the most noble of all the attributes of man.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Men, Differences

• The following proposition seems to me in a high degree probable—namely, that any animal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts, the parental and filial affections being here included, would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as soon as its intellectual powers had become as well, or nearly as well developed, as in man. For, firstly, the social instincts lead an animal to take pleasure in the society of its fellows, to feel a certain amount of sympathy with them, and to perform various services for them.

  Charles Darwin

  Men, Animal, Intellectual

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.5, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

• ...conscience looks backwards and judges past actions, inducing that kind of dissatisfaction, which if weak we call regret, and if severe remorse.

  Charles Darwin

  Regret, Past, Judging

  Charles Darwin (2008). “The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex”, p.91, Princeton University Press

• The moral faculties are generally esteemed, and with justice, as of higher value than the intellectual powers. But we should always bear in mind that the activity of the mind in vividly recalling past impressions is one of the fundamental though secondary bases of conscience. This fact affords the strongest argument for educating and stimulating in all possible ways the intellectual faculties of every human being.

  Charles Darwin

  Past, Justice, Mind

  Charles Darwin, Michael T. Ghiselin (2010). “The Descent of Man”, p.442, Courier Corporation

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