In his 1795 essay entitled Dissertations on First Principles of Government, Thomas Paine wrote this as his last paragraph:
"An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
I guess this was Paine's way of saying: you reap what you sow.
(HT: Salon)
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