Proverb: Two wrongs will not make one right (antedating 1768)

[Garson O'Toole]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

This proverb is in the Yale Book of Quotations with a date of 1814.
The same 1814 citation is also given in the online Oxford Dictionary
of Proverbs. The Oxford reference gives an additional 1783 cite for a
variant of the proverb:

1783 B. Rush Letter 2 Aug. (1951) I. 308 Three wrongs will not make one right.

In modern times "three wrongs make a right" is sometimes used as a
punch line. The related proverb "Two blacks don't make a white" is
also mentioned. I will present an antedating for that phrase in a
separate message.

In the 1768 cite below the phrase "Two wrongs will not make one right"
is presented as a maxim. Note the phrasing is slightly different from
the common version given above. Within the book the maxim is displayed
with surrounding white space on the page.

Cite: 1768, "Thoughts, essays, and maxims, chiefly religious and
political"‎ by Charles Howard, Page 69, Printed for T. Lewis, London.
(Google Books full view)

Two wrongs will not make one right.

http://books.google.com/books?id=GH80AAAAMAAJ&q=%22two+wrongs%22#v=snippet&


The book containing the maxim is reviewed negatively in the "The
Gentleman's Magazine" of January 1768. The review repeats the maxim.

Cite:1768 January, The Gentleman's Magazine, "List of Books---with
Remarks": Review of "'Thoughts, essays, and maxims, chiefly religious
and political' by Charles Howard", Page 35, Printed at St. John's Gate
for David Henry, London. (Google Books full view)

The following extracts will sufficiently shew the profundity of this
author's sentiment, and the accuracy of his language, without a
comment.

"Two wrongs will not make one right."

http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3hIAAAAYAAJ&q=%22two+wrongs%22#v=snippet&


The 1734 cite below is included because it contains the phrase "two
wrongs infer one right." This is not an instance of the maxim, but it
suggests that the maxim may have been known in 1734. The poem
containing the phrase may be playfully invoking the conventional
maxim, or there may be no relationship.

Cite: 1734 November, The London Magazine: or Gentleman's Monthly
Intelligencer, "The Moral, in Hudibrastic; by the Translator", Page
600, Column 2, Poetical Essays, Printed for J. Wilford, London.
(Google Books full view)

The lightning said, its he; in spight
Of fate, two wrongs infer one right.
Let fly; well shot! thanks to my spark;
A blind boy, once, has cleft the mark.

http://books.google.com/books?id=FEQDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22two+wrongs%22#v=snippet&

Garson O'Toole

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org