No Good Deed 😳 Goes Unpunished

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The phrase "No good deed goes unpunished" is a sardonic commentary on the frequency with which acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them. In other words, those who help others are doomed to suffer as a result of their helpfulness. 

Tommaso d'Aquino Thomas Aquinas

Contemplating  Deeds  &  Punishment  by Sandro Botticelli

Background
The phrase is first attested Walter Map's 12th-century De nugis curialium,  in whose fourth chapter the character Eudo adhered to inverted morality "left no good deed unpunished, no bad one unrewarded".
Conventional moral wisdom holds that evil deeds are punished by divine providence and good deeds are rewarded by divine providence:
For as punishment is to the evil act, so is 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. -   Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

This is related to the concepts of Hell and of karma.

Modern expression
The modern expression "No good deed goes unpunished" is an ironic twist on this conventional morality.
The ironic usage of the phrase appears to be [weasel words = words or statements that are intentionally ambiguous or misleading] a 20th-century invention, found for example in Brendan Gill's 1950 novel The Trouble of One House. It is also featured prominently in the song "No Good Deed", from the 2003 hit Broadway musical Wicked. A satirical poem by Franklin Pierce Adams with the title "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (So Shines a Good Deed in a Naughty World)" also exists.

In 2005, author David Helvarg introduced the concept that the punishment may be a form of retaliation, in a piece he wrote for Grist Magazine, "Remember that sign they hung up in an EPA office during the Reagan administration, 'No good deed goes unpunished'? Under George Bush, no good science goes unpunished." 

😳https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_good_deed_goes_unpunished

"No good deed goes unpunished" means that even when someone tries to do something kind or helpful, they may face negative consequences, essentially implying that good intentions don't always lead to positive outcomes; it's often used cynically or ironically to highlight the frustrating reality of sometimes being penalized for trying to help others.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Why No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

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No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

  Arrested Development

Jennifer Nettles Broadway

John Mellencamp

Mom

Mr. Turner (2014)

Star Trek: Picard (2020)

The Gentlemen

The Sopranos (1999)

😎

The Wire In the words of Aeschylus

V for Vendetta (2006) 

Wednesday (2022)

Wicked

Next (2007) 

"Is It True: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?" 

A Sermon by Alex Evans, 

Pastor Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA 

Texts: Psalm 37; Romans 5:1-5

“No good deed goes unpunished!” Where does that line come from?
It is NOT in the Bible - it is one of those familiar phrases that emerges over time, gets traction in various ways, and becomes part of what we think and say.

                                    

https://www.2presrichmond.org/sermons/2022/3/21/is-it-true-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished-psalm-37-romans-51-5