“Punishment? Reward! Punishment? Reward!”
Nick Cave (1957) Australian musician
Song lyrics, Mutiny (1993), Mutiny in Heaven
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870), Note I : Hâjî Abdû, The Man
Context: Christianity and Islamism have been on their trial for the last eighteen and twelve centuries. They have been ardent in proselytizing, yet they embrace only one-tenth and one-twentieth of the human race. Hâjî Abdû would account for the tardy and unsatisfactory progress of what their votaries call "pure truths," by the innate imperfections of the same. Both propose a reward for mere belief, and a penalty for simple unbelief; rewards and punishments being, by the way, very disproportionate. Thus they reduce everything to the scale of a somewhat unrefined egotism; and their demoralizing effects become clearer to every progressive age.
“Punishment? Reward! Punishment? Reward!”
Nick Cave (1957) Australian musician
Song lyrics, Mutiny (1993), Mutiny in Heaven
John Updike (1932–2009) American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic
Salon interview (2000)
Context: In the old movies, yes, there always was the happy ending and order was restored. As it is in Shakespeare's plays. It's no disgrace to, in the end, restore order. And punish the wicked and, in some way, reward the righteous.
“Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.”
Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher
“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.