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Our conscience, which is a great ledger book, wherein are written all our offenses...grinds our souls with the remembrance of some precedent sins, makes us reflect upon, accuse and condemn ourselves.

— Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)

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Source: Section 4, member 2, subsection 3, Causes of Despair, the Devil, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Rigid Ministers, Misunderstanding Scriptures, Guilty Consciences, etc.
Work: The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

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From this it appears how much more cruel the pen may be than the sword.

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Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular, all his life long.

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More quotes by Robert Burton

The Chinese say that we Europeans have one eye, they themselves two, all the world else is blinde.

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The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience.

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He that will not when he may,
When he will he shall have nay.

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Every man for himself, his own ends, the Devil for all.

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As clear and as manifest as the nose in a man's face.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Burton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.