The Meaning and Use of “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”

Michie said:

The utility of good deeds has been a trending topic for millennia. People have been expressing their opinions about it for as long as we can trace the history of human thought, worldview, and moral codes.

Some think this saying is funny. Others see it as a sad truth about humankind. And then, some completely disagree with it. Regardless of our opinion, one thing is certain: this expression is all about the speaker’s views.

The Origin of “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”

The utility of good deeds has been a trending topic for millennia. People have been expressing their opinions about it for as long as we can trace the history of human thought, worldview, and moral codes. There were some variations in the ancient past, but with the rise of Christianity, we got a classic truism: “No good deed goes unrewarded, and no bad deed goes unpunished.” Or, as Thomas Aquinas put it, “For as punishment is to the evil act, so is a reward to a good act. Now no evil deed is unpunished by God, the just judge. Therefore no good deed is unrewarded, and so every good deed merits some good.” (Summa Theologica)
In the 20th century, the rise of skepticism and a utilitarian approach to life brought us some different views, and the traditional saying was often ridiculed. That’s how “no good deed goes unpunished” emerged in several texts. It was attributed to Oscar Wilde, but it circulated for quite a while, so no one knows who invented it.

Continued below.

“No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”: Meaning & Explanation

The saying “no good deed goes unpunished” reveals more about the speaker’s attitude than about the nuances of the English language.

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Mark Quayle said:

There is a curious fact of life, that deals with good-hearted attempts to help another person, that also can be described with "No good deed goes unpunished." I've heard there is a Chinese saying, that if one (let's say person A) saves the life of another, that one (A) will be a servant of the other the rest of their life. I've seen it personally, that if I help someone with generosity of any kind, I can expect to have to repeat or even commit to a portion of that someone's life, far longer than I had meant to, "just to be nice", or to avoid risking hurt feelings and anger.

And, of course, there is the usual wry humor of causation, perhaps a take-off of Murphy's law, or even, as some people seem to think, a superstitious notion that the devil will oppose any good deed —i.e. he (the Devil, or Murphy) "will make you pay for that!".

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