---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The great truth for Innokenty used to be…"
description: "\"“The great truth for Innokenty used to be that we are given only one life. Now, with the new feeling that had ripened in him, he became aware of anothe..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d5/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_conscience_the-great-truth-for-innokenty-used-to-be_2266318.jpg"
---

#  The great truth for Innokenty used to be that we are given…

![“The great truth for Innokenty used to be that we are given only one life. Now, with the new feeling that had ripened in him, he became aware of another law: that we are given only one conscience, too. A life laid down cannot be reclaimed, nor can a ruined conscience.” quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d5/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_conscience_the-great-truth-for-innokenty-used-to-be_2266318.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d5/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_conscience_the-great-truth-for-innokenty-used-to-be_2266318.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d5/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_conscience_the-great-truth-for-innokenty-used-to-be_2266318.jpg)

> ““The great truth for Innokenty used to be that we are given only one life. Now, with the new feeling that had ripened in him, he became aware of another law: that we are given only one conscience, too. A life laid down cannot be reclaimed, nor can a ruined conscience.””

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Life is singular and cannot be reclaimed; similarly, a conscience is a one‑time moral compass, and once damaged it cannot be fully restored.

**In simple terms:** One life, one conscience; both are irreplaceable.

Key Takeaway

Guard your conscience as you would your life.

Themes

morality irreplaceability responsibility

Mood

serious thoughtful

Type

ethical philosophical

When to use this quote

- personal decision‑making
- leadership
- conflict resolution

Key Concepts

ethics existentialism

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you protect your moral compass?
- Can a damaged conscience be healed?

A Different Perspective

Restoring a broken conscience may be possible through redemption, contrary to the claim.

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[Conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience/) [Conscience Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience-life-2502623/) [Ethics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ethics/) [Given Conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given-conscience-5233843/) [Given life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Sacrifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacrifice/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Innokenty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-innokenty-5233844/)

## Related quotes

> [Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out their conscience, thus helping bring the collective conscience to life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-cousins/nothing-is-more-powerful-than-an-individual-acting-out-their/)

[Norman Cousins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-cousins/)

> [Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of his conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-cousins/nothing-is-more-powerful-than-an-individual-acting-out-of-his/)

[Norman Cousins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-cousins/)

> [“Don’t roll your eyes. This question may make you “face palm” in amazement at how strange someone else’s conscience might be. That’s typically how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-david-naselli/don-t-roll-your-eyes-this-question-may-make-you-face-palm-in/)

[Andrew David Naselli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-david-naselli/)

> [“Thou knowest that these things which I say are true, and that I was never delighted in my own praise, for the secret of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boethius-d-524/thou-knowest-that-these-things-which-i-say-are-true-and-that-i-was/)

[Boethius D. 524](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boethius-d-524/)

> [A clear conscience is the softest pillow in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-r-narayana-murthy/a-clear-conscience-is-the-softest-pillow-in-the-world/)

[N. R. Narayana Murthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-r-narayana-murthy/)

> [A clere conscience is a sure carde.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lyly/a-clere-conscience-is-a-sure-carde/)

[John Lyly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lyly/)

> [ \[D\]on't grow old. With age comes caution, which is another name for cowardice… Whatever else you do in life, don't cultivate a conscience. Without… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hesketh-pearson/d-on-t-grow-old-with-age-comes-caution-which-is-another-name-for/)

[Hesketh Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hesketh-pearson/)

> [Never can true courage dwell with them, Who, playing tricks with conscience, dare not look At their own vices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/never-can-true-courage-dwell-with-them-who-playing-tricks-with/)

[Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/)

> [“If we cannot be happy and powerful and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/if-we-cannot-be-happy-and-powerful-and-prey-on-others-we-invent/)

[Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/)

> [Making money doesn't oblige people to forfeit their honor or their conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-rothschild/making-money-doesn-t-oblige-people-to-forfeit-their-honor-or-their/)

[Guy de Rothschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-de-rothschild/)

> [Let us be thankful for health and competence, and, above all, for a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/izaak-walton/let-us-be-thankful-for-health-and-competence-and-above-all-for-a/)

[Izaak Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/izaak-walton/)

> [My conscience is really active. So I feel bad about spending excess amount of money on things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syd/my-conscience-is-really-active-so-i-feel-bad-about-spending-excess/)

[Syd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syd/)

> [Writing adds up to the conscience of our times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-firrell/writing-adds-up-to-the-conscience-of-our-times/)

[Martin Firrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-firrell/)

> [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/)

[Rabelaise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabelaise/)

> [Self-respect and a clear conscience are powerful components of integrity and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-waitley/self-respect-and-a-clear-conscience-are-powerful-components-of/)

[Denis Waitley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-waitley/)

## More by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

> [If you wanted to put the world to rights, who should you begin with: yourself or others?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/if-you-wanted-to-put-the-world-to-rights-who-should-you-begin-with/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [“...you are strong only as long as you don't deprive people of everything . For a person you've taken everything from is no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/you-are-strong-only-as-long-as-you-don-t-deprive-people-of-everything/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/woe-to-that-nation-whose-literature-is-cut-short-by-the-intrusion-of/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/literature-becomes-the-living-memory-of-a-nation/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [If there were no executioners, there would be no executions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/if-there-were-no-executioners-there-would-be-no-executions/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/not-everything-has-a-name-some-things-lead-us-into-a-realm-beyond/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [It is almost always impossible to evaluate at the time events which you have already experienced, and to understand their meaning with the guidance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-is-almost-always-impossible-to-evaluate-at-the-time-events-which/)

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> [Human nature is full of riddles; . . . one of those riddles is: how is it that people who have been crushed by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/human-nature-is-full-of-riddles-one-of-those-riddles-is-how-is-it/)

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> [Call no day happy 'til it is done; call no man happy til he is dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/call-no-day-happy-til-it-is-done-call-no-man-happy-til-he-is-dead/)

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> [Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relationships, this creates an atmosphere of spiritual mediocrity that paralyzes a person's noblest impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/whenever-the-tissue-of-life-is-woven-of-legalistic-relationships-this/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [The same old caveman feeling-greed, envy, violence, and mutual hate, which along the way assumed respectable pseudonyms like class struggle, racial struggle, mass struggle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/the-same-old-caveman-feeling-greed-envy-violence-and-mutual-hate/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

> [Surrender one hair, and you'll end up beardless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/surrender-one-hair-and-you-ll-end-up-beardless/)

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

[Explore all 412 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/)

## More Conscience quotes

> [Self-respect and a clear conscience are powerful components of integrity and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-waitley/self-respect-and-a-clear-conscience-are-powerful-components-of/)

[Denis Waitley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-waitley/)

> [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/)

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> [Writing adds up to the conscience of our times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-firrell/writing-adds-up-to-the-conscience-of-our-times/)

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> [My conscience is really active. So I feel bad about spending excess amount of money on things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syd/my-conscience-is-really-active-so-i-feel-bad-about-spending-excess/)

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> [Let us be thankful for health and competence, and, above all, for a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/izaak-walton/let-us-be-thankful-for-health-and-competence-and-above-all-for-a/)

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> [Making money doesn't oblige people to forfeit their honor or their conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-rothschild/making-money-doesn-t-oblige-people-to-forfeit-their-honor-or-their/)

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> [“If we cannot be happy and powerful and prey on others, we invent conscience and prey on ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/if-we-cannot-be-happy-and-powerful-and-prey-on-others-we-invent/)

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> [My morals are important to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hunter-parrish/my-morals-are-important-to-me/)

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> [ \[D\]on't grow old. With age comes caution, which is another name for cowardice… Whatever else you do in life, don't cultivate a conscience. Without… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hesketh-pearson/d-on-t-grow-old-with-age-comes-caution-which-is-another-name-for/)

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[Browse all 3,490 Conscience quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience/)

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