proverb · Words worth keeping
The receiver is as bad as the thief.
The receiver is as bad as the thief.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Knowingly accepting the benefit of wrongdoing can make a person complicit in it. Responsibility may extend beyond the person who performs the original act.
Example
A club member refuses equipment offered by a friend who admits taking it from another group, rather than treating receiving it as morally separate from the taking.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The thief takes something, and the receiver accepts what was taken. By calling both bad, the proverb brings the benefiting participant into the moral picture instead of considering only the first action. Its strongest application is where the receiver knows the benefit came through wrongdoing and accepts it anyway. That knowledge matters: an unsuspecting recipient and someone deliberately supporting the act are not in the same position. The saying offers a moral comparison, not a statement about legal offences or identical penalties. Ask what the recipient knew, how they benefited and what they could reasonably do once the circumstances became clear.
When to use it
Use it when someone knowingly benefits from another person’s admitted wrongdoing.
Keep in mind
Knowledge and circumstances matter; this moral comparison does not establish legal guilt or equal responsibility in every case.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their 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
- Date unknown
- Culture
- English