There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.
The greatest happiness of life it the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.
When the mind has once begun to yield to the weakness of superstition, trifles impress it with the force of conviction.
He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
It is a Blessed thing that in every age someone has had the individuality enough to stand by his own convictions
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God
A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.