a guilty conscience needs no accuser
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A person with a guilty conscience will feel remorse even if no one accuses them
Examples
After cheating on the test, he couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt, proving that a guilty conscience needs no accuser
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “a guilty conscience needs no accuser” mean?
A person with a guilty conscience will feel remorse even if no one accuses them
Is “a guilty conscience needs no accuser” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.