In "A Man For All Seasons" Thomas More tells Sir Howard, the Duke of Norfolk:
Fellowship? When we die and you are sent to heaven for sticking to your principles and I am sent to hell for denying mine, will you come with me for 'fellowship'?
In one of his last letters to his daughter, Margaret Roper, Sir Thomas More wrote this, which is the phrase from which that movie line was taken:
When we shall hence and come before God and that he shall send you to heaven for doing according to your conscience, and me to the devil for doing against mine, [will] some of you go now for good company with me?
For most of us, fellowship and company are what matter. For Thomas More, it was fellowship and company with God and his Christ that mattered most. Your true friends will never ask you to go against your conscience. It works out very well for those who can say they didn't know any better and were just following their conscience, but it doesn't work out so well for those who feel they might just be better of staying true to themselves.
The irony about the way I choose to live my life is that it's the best option. If I am wrong and the way we live doesn't matter or there is no life after this, then it doesn't really matter what your life philosophy is. We're all equally inconsequential at that point, once we pass from the memory of the people who still live. However, if I am right, about any of it in any way, well, the company of More and people like him will be a fine place to be. I will finally be surrounded by my peers- people who hope for something better, for good things to come.
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