Can SOMEONE PLEASE tell me the meaning of the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished"? Thank you.?

Question

I really have no idea what it means. It sounds like a double negative statement, which we all know makes no sense whatsoever.

Answer 1

An example would be if you bailed someone out of jail on good faith that they would do right and then they robbed your house.  The intentions are there, but a negative outcome occurs to the person trying to help.

Answer 2

It means that when you are just trying to do someone a good turn, the result is you end up getting "bitten on the butt" so to speak.

An example would be if you saw a man get hit by a car and you rush to help him, to try to save his life.  He lives, but because you used slightly more pressure when giving cpr, he ends up with a bruised lung or something.  He then sues YOU, even though you were just trying to save his life.

Answer 3

I means that no matter how hard you try to do something right/good/positive there is always someone who will find fault, or your good intentions did not have the intended result, and instead had the opposite or wrong outcome.

Answer 4

Terry is right. That is a great analogy for what this phrase means. Another idea is a person sees someone pulled over on the road and stops to help... Only to end up having their car stolen by that person. (This is something that has happened over the last couple of years around our area.)

Ultimately, that phrase is telling you that no matter how hard you try to do the right thing, some how, some way it will come back to haunt you in the end.

Answer 5

One tries to help a victim of domestic abuse and the wife is stabbing you in the back, while tying to stop the husband.

Answer 6

search it on Yahoo...there are plenty'o answers to the question of the meaning.