no good deed goes unpunished

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According to the website Grammarist, there is no one origin for the phrase "let no good deed go unpunished." However, it also lists several written examples from the 20th century, starting with a 1942 phrase attributed to Walter Winchell, in which he wrote (in a column) "[It] reminds me of the line diplomats use: ‘No good deed goes unpunished in Washington.” On top of that, it lists one from Dante's "The Divine Comedy" ("love is the seed in you of every virtue/and of all acts deserving punishment."). This can be found at the website https://grammarist.com/proverb/no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/. Meanwhile, the website Quote Investigator gives several older examples of these phrases, including one from a 12th-century text that was translated into English in 1923, and which discussed a malevolent, though the website indicated that it wasn't written like it was a proverb. As well, two came from 1927 (one of which used the word "kindness" in place of "good deed") and another from 1938 ("Every good deed brings its own punishment"), which was the earliest match that website found which it considered to be strong. This can be found at the website https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/04/30/good-deed/.

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Mandarin: 好心沒好報 /好心没好报 (hǎoxīn méi hǎo bào) — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Czech: za dobrotu na žebrotu — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Czech: každý dobrý skutek je po zásluze potrestán — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Danish: utak er verdens løn — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Dutch: stank voor dank — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Finnish: yksikään hyvä työ ei jää rankaisematta — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Finnish: kiittämättömyys on maailman palkka — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• German: der Fluch der guten Tat — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Hebrew: אין מעשה טוב שנותר ללא עונש — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Hebrew: שום מעשה טוב אינו פטור מעונש — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Hebrew: אין חסד שלא בא על עונשו — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Hebrew: צדיק ורע לו — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Hungarian: idővel minden jótett elnyeri méltó büntetését — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Italian: fai del bene e dimenticalo — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Portuguese: toda boa ação tem sempre uma punição — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Russian: ни одно́ до́брое де́ло не остаётся безнака́занным (ni odnó dóbroje délo ne ostajótsja beznakázannym) — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Serbo-Croatian: čini dobro pa se pokaj — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Slovak: Za dobrotu na žobrotu. — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Slovene: dobrota je sirota — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Spanish: todas las buenas obras serán castigadas — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Spanish: no hay bien sin castigo — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Spanish: ninguna buena acción queda impune — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Swedish: otack är världens lön — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Turkish: hiçbir iyilik cezasız kalmaz. — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.
• Vietnamese: làm ơn mắc oán — beneficial actions often go unappreciated etc.