Ill doers, ill deemers. 1737 A. RAMSAY Scots Proverbs xix. Ill doers are ay ill dreaders.
1828 SCOTT Fair Maid of Perth II. v. Put me not to quote the old saw, that evil doers are
evil dreaders.—It is your suspicion, not your knowledge, which speaks. 1886 R. L.
STEVENSON Kidnapped xxvii. If you were more trustful, it would better befit your time
of life. .. We have a proverb.. that evil doers are aye evil-dreaders. conscience; wrong-
doersEVIL to him who evil thinksMedieval Fr. honi soit qui mal y pense is the motto of the Order of the Garter, originated in
1348 or 1349 by King Edward III of England; the saying is well known in its French form as
well as being current in a variety of English versions. Quots. 1589 and 1650 offer suggestions
on the translation.
c 1460 SIR R. ROS La Belle Dame in Skeat (ed.) Chaucer VIII. 397 Who thinketh il,
no good may him befal. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. ix. C2 And shame
take him that shame thinkth. 1589 G. PUTTENHAM Arte of English Poesie (Arber) 116
Commonly thus Englished, Ill be to him that thinks ill, but in mine opinion better thus,
Dishonoured is he that meanes dishonorably. 1650 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French &
English (Howell’s Epistle Dedicatory) We English it, Ill be to him who thinks ill; though
the true sense be, let him be beray’d who thinks any ill, being a metaphor taken from a
child that hath berayed [fouled] his clouts [clothes], and in France ther’s not one in a
hundred who understands this word nowadayes. 1668 DENHAM in Dryden Miscellany v.
76 Who evil thinks, may evil him confound. 1954 B. FLYNN Doll’s Done Dancing xvii.
158 ‘The..er.. hoi polloi.. can always be found ready to point the finger or shrug the
shoulder or.. er.. nod the head. Whereas the understanding..erudite person..with the right
instincts, makes no comment. Evil to him who evil thinks.’ good and evilNever do EVIL that good may come of itWith allusion to ROMANS iii. 8 (AV) And not.. Let us do evil, that good may come.1583 P. STUBBES Anatomie of Abuses K5 We must not doo euil, that good may
come of it: yet the lawes in permitting certain reasonable gain to be received for the loane
of money lent.. haue not doone much amisse. 1689 G. BULKELEY Letter in Coll.
Connecticut Hist. Society (1860) I. 59 If I knew any thing whereby to justify the present
proceeding, I should not conceal it; but we must not do evil that good may come of it.
1882 C. M. YONGE Unknown to History II. ix. Walsingham’s agents.. did evil that good
might come, thinking Mary’s death alone would ensure them from Pope and Spaniard.
1950 J. CANNAN Murder Included 127 What.. were the ethics? A promise made to a