proverb · Legacy record
Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying warns against shame turning mistakes into crimes. A qualified reading concerns responding to an error without concealment or further wrongdoing.
What the words are saying
The compressed wording is ambiguous, and the supplied gloss instead says lack of shame causes crime. That interpretation does not capture the warning’s possible shame-and-escalation relation. A responsible explanation keeps the uncertainty explicit rather than declaring a precise legal meaning or requiring humiliation.
Everyday example
Someone reports an error through an appropriate process instead of attempting a deceptive cover-up.
When to use it
Use it as a qualified reading with the source-gloss ambiguity explicit.
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What it does not mean
The precise traditional interpretation is unresolved; no legal classification or necessary shame is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 989; PDF page 138
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.