two wrongs do not make a right

Idioms  

1. A second misdeed or mistake does not cancel the first, as in Don't take his ball just because he took yours—two wrongs do not make a right. This proverbial adage sounds ancient but was first recorded in 1783, as Three wrongs will not make one right.

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Example Sentences

But, as the old saying goes, two wrongs do not make a right.

From Washington Post • Feb. 22, 2022

But reasoning that two wrongs do not make a right, Circuit Judge Bruce Beilfuss slapped a $4,200 fine on the club.

From Time Magazine Archive

"If two wrongs do not make a right," he answered tartly, "even less will an assembly of deadly dry persons make something to drink."

From From a Cornish Window A New Edition by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

That would have been better also, but two wrongs do not make a right.

From Wulf the Saxon A Story of the Norman Conquest by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

Ethically two wrongs do not make a right; but it is human nature to see the direct way to the end and wish for it, not always regarding ethical considerations.

From How Janice Day Won by Long, Helen Beecher