I don’t consider a conviction and conscience to be the same things. To me conscience is about right and wrong. What your talking about is something that I would think of as more of a preference, even if you know its a better way for things to be run, you have to earn respect and clout to be able to affect those changes.

In terms of affecting a bad system, this is something I’ve given a lot of thought to as an independent. If you operate in the system the same way as others than what change will you affect? And if you are surrounded by something of a negative nature without some form of positive reinforcement it is more likely to change you. I do not think that modern politics can change modern politics, instead I call on people to look beyond the systems and see what solutions they can find not only for themselves but in working with one another. If change can be affected than by all means affect it. If you have a way to do it, than do it. For me that means writing things that will cause people to have the confidence to trust there own conscience and decisions.

The world is indeed as you prefer to regard it.

When my younger brother was in the late teens, he used to bring some kind of simple “protection” with him (like ninja-sticks), when he went into the nearby town in a weekend night. He and his friends “saw” the downtown area as dangerrous because he had heard about gangs and violence. I couldn’t really relate to that at all, since I never had seen the town in that way. It was weird.

What I do like is to think about wise words and “test” them a bit against everyday life situations.

You introduced moral, not mentioned in the original text. But it is completely relevant.
And, again, I agree, when the matter at hand is “big” enough to be a moral issue, yes, one must be true to ones ideals and principles.

But, in the more “grey areas” of everyday business life, one could for example have a “conviction” or idea that one thinks would be really good for the company. If your boss says no, is that a reason to immediately feel neglected and threaten to quit because “you didn’t get acceptance of how it should be done your way ASAP”?
Or, should one stick around, learn, discuss and polish the idea and go about to plant it in stages so as to get gradual recognition etc.

I guess the answer is again just to ask yourself if you really have thought things through properly.

To my mind also comes the many people that attempt to “change the (bad) system from within”. Should they always reject and leave the system instead because it is bad?
Who will then create change? Can it only be created from the outside?