Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 170 Mass. 18, 20 (1897) (opinion of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts).
1890s
"The Way of the Ruler", in Han Feizi: Basic Writings (2003)
“Men are punished by their sins, not for them.”
Variant: We are punished by our sins not for them.
Source: Love, Life and Work
Source: The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 12
in The Note Book, Kessinger Publishing (reprint 1998)
Context: If you err it is not for me to punish you. We are punished by our sins not for them.
“Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.”
As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 39
“If you err it is not for me to punish you. We are punished by our sins not for them.”
in The Note Book, Kessinger Publishing (reprint 1998) ISBN 0766104168, 9780766104167
Source: The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 12
“756. Every sin brings its punishment with it.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
XII. The origin of evil things; and that there is no positive evil.
On the Gods and the Cosmos
Context: The soul sins therefore because, while aiming at good, it makes mistakes about the good, because it is not primary essence. And we see many things done by the Gods to prevent it from making mistakes and to heal it when it has made them. Arts and sciences, curses and prayers, sacrifices and initiations, laws and constitutions, judgments and punishments, all came into existence for the sake of preventing souls from sinning; and when they are gone forth from the body, Gods and spirits of purification cleanse them of their sins.
Notes on the General Principles of Employment for the Destitute and Criminal Classes (1868).
“The certainty of punishment, even more than its severity, is the preventive of crime.”
Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 456.
