Single Idea 1755

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / b. Retribution for crime]

Full Idea

Errors ought to meet with pardon, for a man does not err intentionally, but influenced by some external circumstances. We should not hate someone who has erred, but teach him better.

Gist of Idea

Errors result from external influence, and should be corrected, not hated

Source

report of Aristippus the elder (fragments/reports [c.395 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 02.Ar.9

Book Reference

Diogenes Laertius: 'Diogenes Laertius', ed/tr. Yonge,C.D. [Henry G. Bohn 1853], p.92