Punishment Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old punishment quotes, punishment sayings, and punishment proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. Elizabeth Fry
The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else. George Bernard Shaw
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men. Plato
It is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyr. Saint Augustine
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility. Thomas Szasz
Punishment cannot heal spirits, can only break them. Barbara Deming
The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin. Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty. Henry Ford
All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice. Joseph de Maistre
All punishment is mischief; all punishment in itself is evil. Jeremy Bentham
There must be no worse punishment to a totalitarian nation than the withdrawal of capital. Jerzy Kosinski
Punishment for doing your job well is an unparalleled professional pressure. Chris Borland
Capital punishment is our society's recognition of the sanctity of human life. Orrin Hatch
Punishment may make us obey the orders we are given, but at best it will only teach an obedience to authority, not a self-control which enhances our self-respect. Bruno Bettelheim
Let the punishment be proportionate to the offense. Cicero
Punishment is justice for the unjust. Augustine of Hippo
The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless. Voltaire
Any punishment that does not correct, that can merely rouse rebellion in whoever has to endure it, is a piece of gratuitous infamy which makes those who impose it more guilty in the eyes of humanity, good sense and reason, nay a hundred times more guilty than the victim on whom the punishment is inflicted. Marquis De Sade
Capital punishment would be more effective as a preventive measure if it were administered prior to the crime. Woody Allen
All in all, punishment hardens and renders people more insensible; it concentrates; it increases the feeling of estrangement; it strengthens the power of resistance. Friedrich Nietzsche
What punishments of God are not gifts? J. R. R. Tolkien
An unjust punishment is never forgotten. Penelope Fitzgerald
Punishment is a vital need of the human soul. Simone Weil
Punishments erode relationships and moral growth. Alfie Kohn
No punishment is so terrible as prosperous guilt. William Ellery Channing
Punishment closely follows guilt as its companion. Horace
Punishment renders autonomy of conscience impossible. Jean Piaget
Divine punishment is at once followed by Divine pity. Joseph H. Hertz
Punishment is God's. He alone is the infallible Judge. Mahatma Gandhi
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute. Samuel Johnson