Guilt—we’ve all felt it. That heavy feeling in our chest when we know we’ve done something wrong. It can come from a misplaced word, a missed opportunity, or something far more serious. Regardless of the reason, it can weigh us down.
In this article, we’ll share some of the best quotes about guilt. These words of wisdom come from a variety of sources and cover the many facets of this complex emotion. Read on and find comfort, insight, or perhaps a new perspective.
Classic Guilty Quotes
“The guilty think all talk is of themselves.”
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.”
“We are all guilty of the good we did not do.”
“People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.”
“Conscience is the voice of the soul; the passions are the voice of the body.”
“Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”
“The guilty mind is always suspicious.”
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
“Guilt rarely results in positive change. Instead, it squashes our spirit.”
“He who is false to the present duty breaks a thread in the loom, and will find the flaw when he may have forgotten its cause.”
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.”
“Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.”
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion to death.”
“Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.”
“A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.”
“Where all are guilty, no one is.”
“Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.”
“Guilt is the hilt of the knife that we plunge into ourselves.”
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
“Guilt is to danger, what pain is to the body; it calls our attention to what is wrong.”
“Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility.”
“Evil alone has no guilt; let the guilt of the guilty light upon him.”
“Guilt is the mafia of the mind.”
“A guilty conscience never feels secure.”
“There’s no such thing as perpetual guilt.”
“Guilt is the weight of a thousand stones.”
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper.”
“A guilty person is always his own hangman.”
“Guilt, the secret weapon of mankind, often proves to be its unwitting downfall.”
“Guilty pleasures are just that – pleasures you feel guilty for indulging in.”
“The burden of guilt often weighs heavier than the crime itself.”
Guilty Quotes from Literature
“Guilt is a hunter.”
“I am burdened with the guilt of being the cause of another’s suffering.”
“The guilty think all talk is of themselves.”
“Guilt, the secret evil, defiles the soul.”
“All men, when faced with their own guilt, act like a child who hides his face behind his mother’s skirts.”
“Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level.”
“Sin and guilt – they are like the thunderstorm and the lightning.”
“Guilt is a wolf gnawing hungrily on your soul.”
“The guilty one is not the one who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.”
“Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”
“The human heart is the only instrument that never breaks and keeps beating even when it is filled with guilt.”
“Guilt must not be allowed to eat away your resolve.”
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.”
“And then there is the greatest guilt of all – to be unhappy when you are loved.”
“The guilty mind invents accusations against itself.”
“Guilt is not a pest that gnaws at our soul – it is a mirror reflecting our own fears.”
“Self-pity is the simplest place to park the guilt.”
“His guilt is a burden, to be lifted only by confession and penance.”
“Guilt is like a puddle in which you can see your reflection but never escape.”
“True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself.”
“Guilt is the flip side of the coin of human compassion.”
“There’s a whisper in every guilty heart that cannot be silenced.”
“Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.”
“Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. It’s better to learn the truth.”
“Each man’s guilt intensifies the gravity of his remorse.”
“Guilt is rarely a rational thing; it distorts all the faculties of the mind.”
“Guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body.”
“A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.”
“Where there is guilt, there is a path to transformation.”
“The only thing worse than being guilty of a crime is being punished for a crime you did not commit.”
“Guilt, that worm that eats into the soul.”
Movie-Inspired Guilty Quotes
“I find myself feeling guilty for the things I’ve done and the ones I haven’t.”
“Some secrets are too delicious not to share, but the guilt lingers long after.”
“To err is human; to dwell in guilt, divine folly.”
“The path to redemption is often paved with the stones of guilt.”
“I could no more stop dreaming than I could make them all come true.”
“Guilt is a heavy burden, the only way to lighten it is through atonement.”
“In the shadows of guilt, one finds the light of redemption.”
“The hardest thing in life is to forgive yourself.”
“We are all guilty in some way, at some time, of something.”
“The burden of guilt weighs heavier than the darkest of nights.”
“Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.”
“Sometimes the guilty one is not the one who commits the crime, but the one who causes the most suffering.”
“We are all of us more or less the same as guilty people.”
“Guilt is the ghost of our actions past.”
“Our guilt is like our fingerprints; it makes us unique and recognizable.”
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
“Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”
“Guilt is the solemn shadow of an undesired friend.”
“The only crime is pride.”
“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
“Memories are heavy, but guilt is the heaviest.”
“The only thing more agonizing than being guilty is being guilty and being forgiven.”
“Guilt is the wound we inflict upon ourselves, the scar we cannot hide.”
“Guilt, it’s like a bag of bricks. All you gotta do is set it down.”
“One can only feel guilty of what one allows to pass unchecked.”
“The weight of guilt can make a mere breath feel like lifting mountains.”
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.”
“In every guilt-stricken heart, there lies a seed of truth.”
“We are all innocent until proven guilty. But in our hearts, the verdict is swift and harsh.”
Guilty Quotes by Famous Figures
“The guilty think all talk is of themselves.”
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion to death.”
“He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.”
“True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself.”
“When you know you’re guilty, you have to be brave.”
“The only thing worse than the actual guilt is the fear of getting caught.”
“Guilt seldom leads to good.”
“Guilt is like a sword without a hilt. There’s no way to pick it up without getting cut.”
“The guilty are always the most prone to establish elaborate and improbable theories of innocence.”
“No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it.”
“Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.”
“Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion to death.”
“Guilt is anger directed at ourselves.”
“We are more jealous of our fear than our guilt.”
“The guilty think everyone talks of their crime.”
“Guilt is the worst prison.”
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.”
“Guilt is always hungry, don’t let it consume you.”
“Our guilt should not only be remembered but also buried.”
“Feelings of guilt are the worst punishment. You are your own judge.”
“He who flees from trial confesses his guilt.”
“Life is too short to be burdened by guilt. Free yourself to live.”
“Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.”
“Guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body.”
“Guilt can be a tool, or it can be a weight dragging you down.”
“Guilt is never to be doubted.”
“The man who lies asleep will never waken fame, and his desire and all his active thoughts are dead in him the moment that he sleeps.”
“The guilty mind invents words to avoid the truth.”
“Guilt is a useless feeling. It’s never enough to make you change direction—only enough to make you useless.”
Guilty Conscience Quotes
“The guilty think all talk is of themselves.”
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.”
“The guilty mind debases the great image that it wears, and levels us with brutes.”
“Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.”
“Where all are guilty, no one is.”
“Guilt seldom hurries to be punished.”
“Conscience is a man’s compass.”
“Guilt is the source of sorrow, ’tis the fiend, the avenging fiend, that follows us behind with whips and stings.”
“I am as vigilant as a cat to steal cream.”
“Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.”
“The guilty are always the most prone to establish laws.”
“There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.”
“Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.”
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.”
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
“Guilt is a burden that’s too heavy to bear alone.”
“Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.”
“He who flees from trial confesses his guilt.”
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
“Guilt is a hunter.”
“A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.”
“Guilt is the thief of life.”
“Guilt is an indulgence, it entangles you in the past.”
“Innocence is a kind of insanity.”
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
“When one is free from physical and mental torments, the guilt of being alive is fully felt.”
“Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.”
“A guilty conscience has too much to say.”
“It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.”
“Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”
Reflective Guilty Quotes
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing.”
“Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.”
“We are all guilty of the good we did not do.”
“The guilty think all talk is of themselves.”
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion to death.”
“Even in my. darkest moments, I felt the nagging whisper of right and wrong.”
“A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.”
“Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”
“He that is conscious of guilt cannot bear the innocence of others: So they will try to reduce all others to their own level.”
“Shame is a soul-eating emotion.”
“One of the drawbacks to life is that it contains moments when one is compelled to tell the truth.”
“The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.”
“A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.”
“Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.”
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
“True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself.”
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action.”
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.”
“Guilt is a timorous thing ere perpetration; despair alone makes guilty men be bold.”
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
“Guilt results from unused life, from the unlived in us.”
“A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.”
“When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself.”
“Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.”
“Guilt can stop us from taking healthy risks; it confines us in a cage of doubt, limiting our freedom to thrive.”
“The crime is not what you steal, but what you leave behind.”
“Guilt is a destructive and ultimately pointless emotion.”
“Guilty people alter their behavior when guilty without a second thought.”
“To live without guilt is to seize life with both hands.”
“Guilt may serve as a vital spark to wake us up, but only if it doesn’t corrupt our spirit.”
Last Words
Wrapping up our list of guilty quotes, it’s clear that words hold immense power. They can stir deep emotions and spark moments of reflection. These quotes remind us that feeling guilty is a common human experience. They show us that guilt can teach us lessons and push us to grow.
Whether they comfort you or make you think, these quotes have a lasting impact. They help us understand our feelings and connect with others who’ve felt the same way. Remember to revisit them whenever you need a dose of insight or comfort. They are, after all, timeless words that speak to the heart.
