Moral compass

A metaphor for one's ethical value system, based on the allusion, of course, to a compass that helps to guide or steer one along the right path or direction, whatever that is considered to be. The earliest citation is attributed to the American senator and political writer John Taylor, in his book, An Inquiry into the Principles and Policies of the Government of the United States, published in 1814. Charles Dickens later used it in Martin Chuzzlewit, Chapter IV, in 1843. However, the French physician and historian Nicolas-Gabriel Le Clerc is credited with having used boussole morale (moral compass) in a book published in 1780.