Delegated conscience (n.) is a grave sin: leaving the morality of war to a handful of diplomats and generals.
A Good conscience (n.) proves an action good as much as an artist's satisfaction proves his work beautiful — and all crucial actions were done without that security.
A Good conscience (n.) is the pleasant feeling of being at peace with oneself, and it proves no more than an artist's pleasure in his work — nothing at all.
A Good conscience (n.) was invented by man — a manifold, mendacious, artificial, opaque animal — so that he could for once enjoy his soul as simple.
A Good conscience (n.) is the prison of the good: their spirit is jailed in it; the stupidity of the good is unfathomably clever.
National conscience (n.) can be paraded on the very ground its guns are still shelling: the villagers, a reporter regrets, cannot appreciate what My Lai means to Americans.
Scruples (n.) of a moral kind betray sickliness: strong ages do not reflect on their principles, and becoming conscious of one's values means real morality — instinctive certainty — is going to the devil.
Scruples (n.) are cheap to keep until the first time they cost something.
Scruples (n.) is what tells you to go ahead and do the right thing after you have considered doing the wrong thing and decided it wasn't worth the risk.