crime doesn't pay
crime doesn't pay
proverb Ultimately, crime does not benefit the criminal, and only results in negative consequences. The billboards are designed as reminders that even minor fraud convictions carry serious consequences—crime doesn't pay.
See also: crime, pay
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
Crime doesn't pay.
Prov. Crime will ultimately not benefit a person. No matter how tempting it may appear, crime doesn't pay.
See also: crime, pay
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
crime does not pay
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."
See also: crime, does, not, pay
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
- teach a man to fish
- village
- it takes a village
- for want of a nail
- For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse ...
- chickens come home to roost
- chickens come home to roost, one's
- a burnt child dreads the fire
- burnt
- best-laid plans go astray, the