The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (253 page)

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HANG a thief when he's young, and he'll no' steal when he's old

1832
Scottish Proverbs
115
Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no [not] steal when he's auld.
1896
Proverbs of Scotland
126
Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no steal when he's auld. This was a favourite saying of Lord Justice Clerk Braxfield [Robert MacQueen, Lord Braxfield (1722–99), Scottish judge], who invariably acted upon its teaching.
1979
Love & Land Beyond
x.
So much killing … It reminds me of the Scots proverb, ‘Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no' steal when he's old.’

wrong-doers

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One might as well be HANGED for a sheep as a lamb

The proverb alludes to the former penalty for sheep-stealing. The idea is present in;
1662
N. ROGERS
Rich Fool
253 As some desperate Wretches, Who dispairing of life still act the more villainy, giving this desperate Reason of it, As good be hanged for a great deal, as for a little.

1678
English Proverbs
(ed. 2) 350
As good be hang'd for an old sheep as a young lamb.
Somerset
.
1732
Gnomologia
no. 683
As good be hang'd for a Sheep as a Lamb.
1836
Midshipman Easy
II. ii.
We may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb … I vote that we do not go on board.
1841
Barnaby Rudge
liii.
Others .. comforted themselves with the homely proverb, that, being hung at all, they might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.
1915
Rainbow
vi.
One might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb. If he had lost this day of his life, he had lost it.
1977
Quartet in Autumn
xv.
Letty .. decided that she might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and make the most of her meal.

conduct
;
risk

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