Two wrongs don't make a right
Meaning: Responding to wrongdoing with more wrongdoing is never justified.
Origin: The thought appeared in 18th-century print in several forms. A 1734 poem in The London Magazine plays on the idea, and in 1783 Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote that "three wrongs will not make one right." The "two wrongs" wording settled later.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and Japanese
- French: Deux torts ne font pas un droit (literally: Two wrongs don't make a right)
- Spanish: Dos males no hacen un bien (literally: Two evils don't make a good)
- Japanese: 目には目をでは世界は盲目になる (Me ni wa me wo de wa sekai wa mōmoku ni naru) (literally: An eye for an eye makes the world blind)
More proverbs about Morality
- Honesty is the best policy — Being truthful is always the right approach.
- You reap what you sow — Your actions determine your outcomes.
- An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind — Revenge only creates more suffering.
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you — Treat people the way you want to be treated.
- Don't bite the hand that feeds you — Don't harm those who help you.
- People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones — Don't criticize others if you have the same faults.
From our compliments & insults
- Testa di rapa — A blockhead who isn't thinking.
- Du hast doch einen Vogel — You're a bit out of your mind.
- Du gehst mir auf den Keks — You're getting on my nerves.