“Punishment? Reward! Punishment? Reward!”
Nick Cave (1957) Australian musician
Song lyrics, Mutiny (1993), Mutiny in Heaven
“Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.”
— Zhuangzi
Last update Oct. 19, 2025. History
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Zhuangzi38
classic Chinese philosopher -369–-286 BCRelated quotes
Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist
After visiting the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in Germany, as quoted in The New York Times (20 April 1980) http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/lindbergh-jews.html
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence.
“There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
"The Christian Religion" The North American Review, August 1881 http://books.google.com/books?id=OPmfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22There+are+in+nature+neither+rewards+nor+punishments+there+are+consequences%22&pg=PA14#v=onepage http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nora&cc=nora&view=image&seq=121&idno=nora0133-2<br>Variants:<br>We must remember that in nature there are neither rewards nor punishments there are consequences. The life and death of Christ do not constitute an atonement. They are worth the example, the moral force, the heroism of benevolence, and in so far as the life of Christ produces emulation in the direction of goodness, it has been of value to mankind.<br>As published in Some Reasons Why (1895) http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/some_reasons_why.html<br>In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.<br>Letters and Essays, 3rd Series. Some Reasons Why, viii. <br class="br">Source: The Christian Religion An Enquiry <br class="br">Context: There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences. The life of Christ is worth its example, its moral force, its heroism of benevolence.
“Eating crappy food isn't a reward -- it's a punishment.”
Drew Carey (1958) American actor, comedian, game show host, libertarian and photographer
“Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - it is a result.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
“Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”
Tom Peters (1942) American writer on business management practices
Source: The Little Big Things: 163 Ways To Pursue Excellence (2010), p. 53.
“The free market punishes irresponsibility. Government rewards it.”
Harry Browne (1933–2006) American politician and writer
Source: Liberty A to Z (2004), p. 76
“As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this.”
George Mason (1725–1792) American delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention
August 22
Debates in the Federal Convention (1787)
Context: Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.
Gregory Bateson book Steps to an Ecology of Mind
Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972)