A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
Virtue is its own punishment.
They know that tragedy is not glamorous. They know it doesn't play out in life as it does on a stage or between the pages of a book. It is neither a punishment meted out nor a lesson conferred. Its horrors are not attributable to one single person. Tragedy is ugly and tangled, stupid and confusing.
Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment.
Going to the opera, like getting drunk, is a sin that carries its own punishment with it, and that a very severe one.
Captial punishment is our society's recognition of the sanctity of human life.
There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences.
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments. There are consequences.
Though the vicious can sometimes pour affliction upon the good, their power is transient and their punishment certain; and that innocence, though oppressed by injustice, shall, supported by patience, finally triumph over misfortune!
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment; there are consequences.