Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves. And it is best to fix our minds on that certainty, instead of considering what may be the elements of excuse for us. – George Eliot, Adam Bede

I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can. – Michel de Montaigne, translated

Righteousness is easy in retrospect. – Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

There is no man so good that if he placed all his actions and thought under the scrutiny of the laws, he would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. – Michel de Montaigne, Essays, 1595