If courage is acting according to one's conscience despite pain or fear, then strength is the ability to keep conscience awake and in force despite t…

- Martha Stout

An intelligent sociopath can learn the rules about what's good and what's bad, what people see as good and bad. But they don't get that intervening s…

- Martha Stout

One way or another, a life without conscience is a failed life.

- Martha Stout

If you don't have a conscience, what is your behavior like? Apparently, if you don't have a conscience, if you don't really . . . love, then the only…

- Martha Stout

The perfect victim, from the sociopath's point of view, is the person who is smart enough and capable enough to do him some good in the world and who…

- Martha Stout

Sociopaths are not inhibited by the notion that it's wrong to be addicted, or wrong to buy illegal drugs. Also, drinking or taking drugs can be a lot…

- Martha Stout

Sociopaths love power. They love winning. If you take loving kindness out of the human brain, there's not much left except the will to win.

- Martha Stout

A part of a healthy conscience is being able to confront consciencelessness. When you teach your daughter, explicitly or by passive rejection, that s…

- Martha Stout

The sociopath wants the person to be easily enough fooled to stick with him. This can be accomplished by looking for someone who is very, very loyal.…

- Martha Stout