crime

It is no great offense to do something; it is not wrong, unlawful, or immoral to do something. I wouldn't worry about quitting your job. After all, it's no crime to want a career you love! I know you feel guilty about breaking up with Steve, but it's no crime to fall out of love with someone.

Do not misbehave if you are unprepared or unwilling to accept the punishment. A: "Dad, I can't be grounded for a month, I need to see my friends!" B: "Yeah, well, you're the one who keeps breaking curfew. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!"

Prov. Crime will ultimately not benefit a person. No matter how tempting it may appear, crime doesn't pay.

Prov. You should not condemn someone for being poor. Ellen: I wish there were a law to make all those poor people move out of our neighborhood. Jim: Poverty is not a crime, Ellen.

something that you say which means if you do something illegal, you will probably be caught and punished Police arrests are being given maximum publicity as a reminder that crime doesn't pay.

if two people are partners in crime, they have done something bad together She'd kept watch and made sure no one saw us while I actually took the bike so we were partners in crime.

Lawbreakers do not benefit from their actions. For example, Steve didn't think it mattered that he stole a candy bar, but he's learned the hard way that crime does not pay . This maxim, originating as a slogan of the F.B.I. and given wide currency by the cartoon character Dick Tracy, was first recorded in 1927. There have been numerous jocular plays on it, as in Woody Allen's screenplay for Take the Money and Run (1969): "I think crime pays. The hours are good, you travel a lot."

No good will come from criminal schemes. The Shadow was a very popular radio detective series that began in the early 1930s. Its hero, playboy Lamont Cranston, had “the power to cloud men's minds,” a form of hypnosis by which he appeared off to the side of where people thought he stood (contrary to popular belief, the Shadow did not make himself invisible). After the credits at the end of every episode, the Shadow intoned, “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay! The Shadow knows,” and then utter a sardonic laugh. Another famous Shadow-ism was “Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men?—The Shadow knows!”