Punishment's (n.) anticipation is a kind of blessing. The dreadful thing is not that I should suffer punishment when I have done something wrong. The dreadful thing is that I could do something wrong and there would be no punishment.
Punishment (n.) deserved is not so dreadful; the dreadful thing would be to do wrong in such a way that no one punished it — to infatuate one's heart so that no one could awaken it.
Punishment (n.) can become a new temptation: you cannot tell what is punishment and what is accident, and wish for the one when you get the other.
Punishment (n.) breeds new sin, whereas love covers a multitude of sins.
Punishment (n.) that followed the offence instantly, like a double-barrelled gun going off as the forbidden fruit is plucked, might cure frivolity; the longer the delay, the bolder the frivolous grow.
Punishment (n.) fits the crime: those who wanted to be rid of government, of punishment, now feel most bitterly the want of a government.