Who said it?
September 24, 2008 2:46 PM Subscribe
Does anyone know the derivation of the phrase "let no good deed go unpunished" ? Who is it credited to and to what were they initially referring?
I haven't heard that phrase before, but do you mean the phrase "no good deed does unpunished"? Google sez "It was attributed to American financier John P. Grier, banker Andrew W. Mellon, and writer Clare Boothe Luce, but its ultimate origin is unknown. "
posted by phoenixy at 2:54 PM on September 24, 2008
posted by phoenixy at 2:54 PM on September 24, 2008
From The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying, & Quotation:
No good deed goes unpunished.
modern humorous saying, sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde but not traced in his writings.
posted by cog_nate at 3:25 PM on September 24, 2008
No good deed goes unpunished.
modern humorous saying, sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde but not traced in his writings.
posted by cog_nate at 3:25 PM on September 24, 2008
Painter Frida Kahlo's biographer, Hayden Herrera, attributes the quote to Clara Booth Luce. Luce's friend, actress Dorothy Hale, had committed suicide by jumping out of a skyscraper. Luce commissioned Kahlo to paint a commemorative portrait of Hale. Kahlo painted Hale's last living acting act as a contemporary retablo, The Suicide of Dorothy Hale, replete with gore. Upon receiving the portrait, certainly more explicit than she expected, Luce said "No good deed goes unpunished."
Luce may have been quoting someone else, but hers is the most vivid usage.
posted by doncoyote at 3:56 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
Luce may have been quoting someone else, but hers is the most vivid usage.
posted by doncoyote at 3:56 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
Far and away the best quotation book now available is The Yale Book of Quotations by Fred R. Shapiro, which has under Clare Booth Luce:
7 No good deed goes unpunished.posted by languagehat at 5:19 PM on September 24, 2008
Attributed in Wash. Post, 9 Jan. 1957. Usually associated with Luce, but there is an earlier occurrence of "No good deed goes unpunished" in the Zanesville (Ohio) Signal, 5 Nov. 1942, attributed there to Walter Winchell. The saying may in fact be proverbial; the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs cites "1938 J. AGATE Ego 3 25 Jan. 275 Pavia was in great form to-day: 'Every good deed brings its own punishment.'"
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posted by matthewr at 2:53 PM on September 24, 2008