Date: 1797-8, 1799

"Conscience is practical reason holding the human being's duty before him for his acquittal or condemnation in every case that comes under a law."

— Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804)

Date: 1797-8, 1799

"Consciousness of an inner court in the human being ('before which his thoughts accuse or excuse one another') is conscience."

— Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804)

Date: 1800

"Know, that the human being's thoughts and deeds / Are not like ocean billows, blindly moved."

— Schiller, Friedrich (1759-1805)

Date: 1800

"The inner world, his microcosmus, is / The deep shaft, out of which they spring eternally."

— Schiller, Friedrich (1759-1805)

Date: 1800

"They grow by certain laws, like the tree's fruit-- / No juggling chance can metamorphose them. / Have I the human kernel first examined? / Then I know, too, the future will and action."

— Schiller, Friedrich (1759-1805)