--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Murder and capital punishment are not…" description: "\"Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51d/george-bernard-shaw-68_capital-punishment_murder-and-capital-punishment-are-not-op_995401.png" --- # Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that… ![“Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name we give it.” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51d/george-bernard-shaw-68_capital-punishment_murder-and-capital-punishment-are-not-op_995401.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51d/george-bernard-shaw-68_capital-punishment_murder-and-capital-punishment-are-not-op_995401.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51d/george-bernard-shaw-68_capital-punishment_murder-and-capital-punishment-are-not-op_995401.png) > “Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name we give it.” [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that punishment and murder are similar, both perpetuating violence; the act matters more than its label. **In simple terms:** Violence breeds more violence. Key Takeaway Focus on actions, not names. Themes justice violence morality Mood critical thought‑provoking Type dramatic ethical When to use this quote - legal reform - conflict mediation - education Key Concepts ethical philosophy social critique Questions to Reflect On - What actions reduce cycles of violence? - Can language change outcomes? A Different Perspective It may oversimplify complex legal and moral distinctions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Capital punishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capital-punishment/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Deeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deeds/) [Dying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dying/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Man and superman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-and-superman/) [Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder/) [Murder Capital](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder-capital-2065654/) [Names](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/names/) [Opposites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opposites/) [Opposites Cancel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opposites-cancel-2065655/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Peace justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace-justice/) [Punishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punishment/) [Punishment Opposites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punishment-opposites-2065653/) [Teach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach/) [Ubuntu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ubuntu/) ## Related quotes > [Misbehavior and punishment are not opposites that cancel each other - on the contrary they breed and reinforce each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/misbehavior-and-punishment-are-not-opposites-that-cancel-each-other/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Anxiety is the fear that one of a pair of opposites might cancel the other. Forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/anxiety-is-the-fear-that-one-of-a-pair-of-opposites-might-cancel-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Im from the murder capital, where they murder for capital. Heard about at least 3 killings this afternoon. Lookin at the news like damn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kanye-west/im-from-the-murder-capital-where-they-murder-for-capital-heard-about/) [Kanye West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kanye-west/) > [“In a whodunnit, when a detective hears that Sir Somebody Smith has been stabbed thirty-six times on a train or decapitated, they accept it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-horowitz/in-a-whodunnit-when-a-detective-hears-that-sir-somebody-smith-has/) [Anthony Horowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-horowitz/) > [When you're finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-borman/when-you-re-finally-up-on-the-moon-looking-back-at-the-earth-all/) [Frank Borman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-borman/) > [To wage war on misery and to struggle against injustice is to promote, along with improved conditions, the human and spiritual progress of all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-paul-vi/to-wage-war-on-misery-and-to-struggle-against-injustice-is-to-promote/) [Pope Paul VI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-paul-vi/) > [I plan to stand by nonviolence, because I have found it to be a philosophy of life that regulates not only my dealings in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/i-plan-to-stand-by-nonviolence-because-i-have-found-it-to-be-a/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/how-can-one-not-speak-about-war-poverty-and-inequality-when-people/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) > [Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will war disappear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/only-when-there-are-many-people-who-are-pools-of-peace-silence/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [The earth is too small a star and we too brief a visitor upon it for anything to matter more than the struggle for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colman-mccarthy/the-earth-is-too-small-a-star-and-we-too-brief-a-visitor-upon-it-for/) [Colman McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colman-mccarthy/) > [It is clear that the way to heal society of its violence . . . and lack of love is to replace the pyramid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manitonquat/it-is-clear-that-the-way-to-heal-society-of-its-violence-and-lack-of/) [Manitonquat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manitonquat/) > [War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-cousins/war-is-an-invention-of-the-human-mind-the-human-mind-can-invent-peace/) [Norman Cousins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-cousins/) > [If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed � but hate these things in yourself, not in another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-you-love-peace-then-hate-injustice-hate-tyranny-hate-greed-but/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Violence produces only something resembling justice, but it distances people from the possibility of living justly, without violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/violence-produces-only-something-resembling-justice-but-it-distances/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Peace is not merely the absence of war. Nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-paul-vi/peace-is-not-merely-the-absence-of-war-nor-can-it-be-reduced-solely/) [Pope Paul VI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-paul-vi/) ## More by George Bernard Shaw > [I love little children too but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-love-little-children-too-but-i-don-t-cut-off-their-heads-and-stick/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Blasphemy and sedition (meaning the truth about Church and State).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/blasphemy-and-sedition-meaning-the-truth-about-church-and-state/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of life, man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-life-man-invents-nothing-but-in-the-arts-of-death-he/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“My religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative evolution. I desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/my-religious-convictions-and-scientific-views-cannot-at-present-be/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/what-a-man-believes-may-be-ascertained-not-from-his-creed-but-from/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/men-have-to-do-some-awfully-mean-things-to-keep-up-their/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The schoolmaster is the person who takes the children off the parents' hands for a consideration. That is to say, he establishes a child…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-schoolmaster-is-the-person-who-takes-the-children-off-the-parents/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/as-long-as-i-have-a-want-i-have-a-reason-for-living-satisfaction-is/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The camera can represent flesh so superbly that, if I dared, I would never photograph a figure without asking that figure to take its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-camera-can-represent-flesh-so-superbly-that-if-i-dared-i-would/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [A man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still communist at the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/a-man-who-is-not-a-communist-at-the-age-of-twenty-is-a-fool-any-man/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [But to admire a strong person and to live under that strong person’s thumb are two different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/but-to-admire-a-strong-person-and-to-live-under-that-strong-person-s/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/socialism-is-the-same-as-communism-only-better-english/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The person who is ignorant enough to believe that his nourishment depends on meat is in a horrible dilemma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-person-who-is-ignorant-enough-to-believe-that-his-nourishment/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of peace Man is a bungler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-peace-man-is-a-bungler/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) [Explore all 1,640 George Bernard Shaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## More Capital punishment quotes > [“The next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-barker/the-next-time-believers-tell-you-that-separation-of-church-and-state/) [Dan Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-barker/) > [“The very mention of crucifixion was taboo in polite Roman circles, since it was the lowest form of capital punishment, reserved for slaves and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-t-wright/the-very-mention-of-crucifixion-was-taboo-in-polite-roman-circles/) [N.T. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-t-wright/) > [It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maimonides/it-is-better-and-more-satisfactory-to-acquit-a-thousand-guilty/) [Maimonides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maimonides/) > [Let us leave the EEC, abolish human rights laws, take TV sets, pool tables and phones out of prisons, bring back corporal and capital…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-bates/let-us-leave-the-eec-abolish-human-rights-laws-take-tv-sets-pool/) [Ken Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-bates/) > [ The law which attempts a man's life \[capital punishment\] is impractical, unjust, inadmissible. It has never repressed crime--for a second crime is every day… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/the-law-which-attempts-a-man-s-life-capital-punishment-is-impractical/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/capital-punishment-kills-immediately-whereas-lifetime-imprisonment/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/to-take-a-life-when-a-life-has-been-lost-is-revenge-not-justice/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [Capital punishment...treats members of the human race...as objects to be toyed with and discarded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-brennan/capital-punishment-treats-members-of-the-human-race-as-objects-to-be/) [William J. Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-brennan/) > [But now inquiry is being made concerning these issues. First, can any believer enlist in the military? Second, can any soldier, even those of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tertullian/but-now-inquiry-is-being-made-concerning-these-issues-first-can-any/) [Tertullian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tertullian/) > [Capital punishment would be more effective as a preventive measure if it were administered prior to the crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/capital-punishment-would-be-more-effective-as-a-preventive-measure-if/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [ “\[T\]here are some human rights that are so deep that we can't negotiate them away. I mean people do heinous, terrible things. But there… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sister-helen-prejean/t-here-are-some-human-rights-that-are-so-deep-that-we-can-t-negotiate/) [Sister Helen Prejean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sister-helen-prejean/) > [I favor capital punishment. It saves lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-reagan/i-favor-capital-punishment-it-saves-lives/) [Nancy Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-reagan/) > [It is significant that, as innocent babies are killed, and capital punishment is withheld from their murderers, the same men who plead for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-j-rushdoony/it-is-significant-that-as-innocent-babies-are-killed-and-capital/) [R.J. Rushdoony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-j-rushdoony/) > [I don't know if the question is whether you believe in capital punishment anymore. I think the greater question is its effectiveness and given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tani-cantil-sakauye/i-don-t-know-if-the-question-is-whether-you-believe-in-capital/) [Tani Cantil-Sakauye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tani-cantil-sakauye/) > [“Zwingli's introduction of capital punishment for those who differed from him on points of doctrine..." p179”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-h-broadbent-the-pilgrim-church/zwingli-s-introduction-of-capital-punishment-for-those-who-differed/) [E.H. Broadbent- The Pilgrim Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-h-broadbent-the-pilgrim-church/) [Browse all 209 Capital punishment quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capital-punishment/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. 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