This is variant of a traditional Christian proverb; ie: "Hate the sin, but love the sinner" in Sermons, Lectures, and Occasional Discourses (1828) Edward Irving http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VwUeH-wTxZ8C&pg=PA132, and similar expressions date to those of Augustine of Hippo: "Love the sinner and hate the sin." Gandhi did express approval of such sentiments in his An Autobiography (1927): "Hate the sin and not the sinner" is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world. <br class="br">Misattributed
“Love the sinner and hate the sin.”
Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum.
Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher
Opera Omnia, Vol II. Col. 962, letter 211
Alternate translation: With love for mankind and hatred of sins (vices).
“If I hate the sins, I love the sinner, and would do much for his salvation.”
Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XVII : Further Warnings; Helen to Mrs. Maxwell
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi
Source: Discipleship (1937), The Disciple and Unbelievers, p. 184.
Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Source: Horns
“A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.”
Magna pars hominum est quae non peccatis irascitur, sed peccantibus.
Seneca the Younger Moral Essays
De Ira (On Anger): Book 2, cap. 28, line 8
Moral Essays
“One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner.”
John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer and preacher
William Mackergo Taylor (1829–1895) American theologian
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 506.
