--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That's why I preach today. Do not do…" description: "\"“That's why I preach today. Do not do spite,\" he said. \"Spite does not pay. It goes around and misses the object that you aim and comes back and zaps y..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e80/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_that-s-why-i-preach-today-do-not-do-spit_1161173.jpg" --- # That's why I preach today. Do not do spite," he said… ![“That's why I preach today. Do not do spite," he said. "Spite does not pay. It goes around and misses the object that you aim and comes back and zaps you. And you're the one who pays for it.” quote by Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e80/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_that-s-why-i-preach-today-do-not-do-spit_1161173.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e80/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_that-s-why-i-preach-today-do-not-do-spit_1161173.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e80/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_that-s-why-i-preach-today-do-not-do-spit_1161173.jpg) > ““That's why I preach today. Do not do spite," he said. "Spite does not pay. It goes around and misses the object that you aim and comes back and zaps you. And you're the one who pays for it.”” [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Spiteful actions backfire, harming the perpetrator more than the target. **In simple terms:** Spite hurts the one who feels it. Key Takeaway Avoid acting out of spite. Themes justice personal responsibility karma Mood reflective cautious Type advice ethical When to use this quote - workplace conflicts - family disputes - political rhetoric - social media interactions Key Concepts psychology ethical behavior Questions to Reflect On - How can you channel frustration constructively? - What strategies prevent retaliatory behavior? A Different Perspective Spite can be a rational response to perceived injustice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Said Spite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said-spite-1430845/) [Spite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spite/) [Spite Does](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spite-does-857021/) [Spite Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spite-said-2112987/) [Today Spite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today-spite-3324799/) ## Related quotes > [“I admit,’ said Spite, ‘to a certain melancholy when visiting vibrant cities, as is this Darujhistan. A long life teaches one just how ephemeral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/i-admit-said-spite-to-a-certain-melancholy-when-visiting-vibrant/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [The Temptations still stand today, not in spite of those who left us, but because of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otis-williams/the-temptations-still-stand-today-not-in-spite-of-those-who-left-us/) [Otis Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otis-williams/) > [“I think I’d rather be branded than submit to some of the things that you have to.” He said this without spite, just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-bickle/i-think-i-d-rather-be-branded-than-submit-to-some-of-the-things-that/) [Laura Bickle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-bickle/) > [“I have come to love you in spite of---" Do I want to be loved in spite of?...Does anyone?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darin-strauss/i-have-come-to-love-you-in-spite-of-do-i-want-to-be-loved-in-spite-of/) [Darin Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darin-strauss/) > [“Do I want to be loved in spite of?Do you? Does anyone? But aren't we all to some degree? Aren't there important parts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-barthelme/do-i-want-to-be-loved-in-spite-of-do-you-does-anyone-but-aren-t-we/) [Donald Barthelme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-barthelme/) > [“And you're no going to see me inherit the title--you'll marry on your deathbed and beget an heir just to spite me," he said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-stuart/and-you-re-no-going-to-see-me-inherit-the-title-you-ll-marry-on-your/) [Anne Stuart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-stuart/) > [“I'm doing a thousand new things in spite of myself," he said. "It's not easy, you know, to jump over your shadow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonia-michaelis/i-m-doing-a-thousand-new-things-in-spite-of-myself-he-said-it-s-not/) [Antonia Michaelis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonia-michaelis/) > [“I just wished to know if you mean to marry the girl. Spite of what you said of her lightness, I ha' known her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gaskell/i-just-wished-to-know-if-you-mean-to-marry-the-girl-spite-of-what-you/) [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gaskell/) > [...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhumpa-lahiri/that-in-spite-of-living-in-a-mansion-an-american-is-not-above-wearing/) [Jhumpa Lahiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhumpa-lahiri/) > [Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-the-great/ring-out-false-pride-in-place-and-blood-the-civic-slander-and-the/) [Alfred the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-the-great/) > [The creative strength is good enough and deep enough to bring itself to flower and to grow in spite of this sickness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-greenberg/the-creative-strength-is-good-enough-and-deep-enough-to-bring-itself/) [Joanne Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-greenberg/) > [Beauty's a doubtful good, a glass, a flower, Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour; And beauty, blemish'd once, for ever's lost, In spite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/beauty-s-a-doubtful-good-a-glass-a-flower-lost-faded-broken-dead/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There is nothing which so certifies the genuineness of a man's faith as his patience and his patient endurance, his keeping on steadily in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-nothing-which-so-certifies-the-genuineness-of-a-man-s-faith/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If I can get enough signatures, to present an apology to slavery, I will present it to the President. The House of Representatives has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirk-douglas/if-i-can-get-enough-signatures-to-present-an-apology-to-slavery-i/) [Kirk Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirk-douglas/) > [When the first Superman movie came out I was frequently asked "What is a hero?" ...My answer was that a hero is someone who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-reeve/when-the-first-superman-movie-came-out-i-was-frequently-asked-what-is/) [Christopher Reeve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-reeve/) ## More by Isabel Wilkerson > [“That one over this is the one for the use of the white people,” Judge Amistead Jones said. “Not that I am a stickler…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-one-over-this-is-the-one-for-the-use-of-the-white-people-judge/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“...they speak like melted butter and their children speak like footsteps on pavement...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/they-speak-like-melted-butter-and-their-children-speak-like-footsteps/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Many immigrants do not talk about what they endured back home. They were fleeing that world, and when they left they didn't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-immigrants-do-not-talk-about-what-they-endured-back-home-they/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Many of the people who left the South never exactly sat their children down to tell them these things, tell them what happened and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-of-the-people-who-left-the-south-never-exactly-sat-their/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Fifteen thousand men, women, and children gathered to watch eighteen-year-old Jesse Washington as he was burned alive in Waco, Texas, in May 1916. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/fifteen-thousand-men-women-and-children-gathered-to-watch-eighteen/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [It occurred to me that no matter where I lived, geography could not save me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/it-occurred-to-me-that-no-matter-where-i-lived-geography-could-not/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Well, I'm a daughter of the great migration as, really, the majority of African Americans that you meet in the north and west are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/well-i-m-a-daughter-of-the-great-migration-as-really-the-majority-of/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [There were colored and white waiting rooms everywhere, from doctor's offices to the bus stations, as people may already know. But there were actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/there-were-colored-and-white-waiting-rooms-everywhere-from-doctor-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“I don’t see one white person in this block selling drugs. They got the nerve to be mad at the blue-eyed devil. You don’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-don-t-see-one-white-person-in-this-block-selling-drugs-they-got-the/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“That the Negro American has survived at all is extraordinary —a lesser people might simply have died out, as indeed others have. — DANIEL…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-the-negro-american-has-survived-at-all-is-extraordinary-a-lesser/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“The reality was that Jim Crow filtered through the economy, north and south, and pressed down on poor and working-class people of all races.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/the-reality-was-that-jim-crow-filtered-through-the-economy-north-and/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [I mean my mother migrated from Georgia -Rome, Georgia, to Washington, D.C., where she then met my father, who was a Tuskegee Airman who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-mean-my-mother-migrated-from-georgia-rome-georgia-to-washington-d-c/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [You must leave this world a better place than it would have been if you had not existed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/you-must-leave-this-world-a-better-place-than-it-would-have-been-if/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“County supervisors relented only after losing their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, choosing finally to reopen the schools rather than face imprisonment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/county-supervisors-relented-only-after-losing-their-case-in-the-u-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [My parents sent me to a school across town, an integrated school, where I had the chance to meet and grow up with people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/my-parents-sent-me-to-a-school-across-town-an-integrated-school-where/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) [Explore all 63 Isabel Wilkerson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## More Spite quotes > [When the first Superman movie came out I was frequently asked "What is a hero?" ...My answer was that a hero is someone who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-reeve/when-the-first-superman-movie-came-out-i-was-frequently-asked-what-is/) [Christopher Reeve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-reeve/) > [Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-the-great/ring-out-false-pride-in-place-and-blood-the-civic-slander-and-the/) [Alfred the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-the-great/) > [The creative strength is good enough and deep enough to bring itself to flower and to grow in spite of this sickness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-greenberg/the-creative-strength-is-good-enough-and-deep-enough-to-bring-itself/) [Joanne Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-greenberg/) > [Beauty's a doubtful good, a glass, a flower, Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour; And beauty, blemish'd once, for ever's lost, In spite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/beauty-s-a-doubtful-good-a-glass-a-flower-lost-faded-broken-dead/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There is nothing which so certifies the genuineness of a man's faith as his patience and his patient endurance, his keeping on steadily in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-nothing-which-so-certifies-the-genuineness-of-a-man-s-faith/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhumpa-lahiri/that-in-spite-of-living-in-a-mansion-an-american-is-not-above-wearing/) [Jhumpa Lahiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhumpa-lahiri/) > [If I can get enough signatures, to present an apology to slavery, I will present it to the President. The House of Representatives has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirk-douglas/if-i-can-get-enough-signatures-to-present-an-apology-to-slavery-i/) [Kirk Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirk-douglas/) > [...the plan will happen in spite of us, not because of us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melody-beattie/the-plan-will-happen-in-spite-of-us-not-because-of-us/) [Melody Beattie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melody-beattie/) > [I tell my mother I went to God in spite of my religious education. I feel that my religious education was inadequate, but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/i-tell-my-mother-i-went-to-god-in-spite-of-my-religious-education-i/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [I stopped painting in 1990 at the peak of my success just to deny people my beautiful paintings, and I did it out of spite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-gallo/i-stopped-painting-in-1990-at-the-peak-of-my-success-just-to-deny/) [Vincent Gallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-gallo/) > [The pious farmer, who ne'er misses pray'rs, With patience suffers unexpected rain; He blesses Heav'n for what its bounty spares, And sees, resign'd, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-wortley-montagu/the-pious-farmer-who-ne-er-misses-pray-rs-with-patience-suffers/) [Mary Wortley Montagu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-wortley-montagu/) > [I'm not really a practising Jew but I keep a kosher kitchen just to spite Hitler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miriam-margolyes/i-m-not-really-a-practising-jew-but-i-keep-a-kosher-kitchen-just-to/) [Miriam Margolyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miriam-margolyes/) > [“But still, if I don't consult a doctor it is from spite. My liver is bad, well—let it get worse!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/but-still-if-i-don-t-consult-a-doctor-it-is-from-spite-my-liver-is/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [In spite of calamity, He still has a plan for me, And it’s working for my good, And it’s building my testimony...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-sapp/in-spite-of-calamity-he-still-has-a-plan-for-me-and-it-s-working-for/) [Marvin Sapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-sapp/) > [I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-frayed-and-nibbled-survivor-in-a-fallen-world-and-i-am-getting/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) [Browse all 1,235 Spite quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spite/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“That's why I preach today. Do not do spite,\" he said. \"Spite does not pay. It goes around and misses the object that you aim and comes back and zaps you. 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