Conscience, my dear fellow, is a stick which every one takes up to beat his neighbor and not for application to his own back.
 Honoré de Balzac, Lost Illusions (1843). copy citation

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Author Honoré de Balzac
Source Lost Illusions
Topic conscience hypocrisy
Date 1843
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Ellen Marriage
Weblink https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13159/pg13159.html

Context

“Lousteau interrupted Lucien before he had time to finish his expostulation. "My dear boy, what country can you come from? The druggist is not a man; he is a strong box delivered into our hands by his fancy for an actress."
"How about your conscience?"
"Conscience, my dear fellow, is a stick which every one takes up to beat his neighbor and not for application to his own back. Come, now! who the devil are you angry with? In one day chance has worked a miracle for you, a miracle for which I have been waiting these two years, and you must needs amuse yourself by finding fault with the means?” source
Original quote

Meaning and analysis

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