Comment by chmod775

Truly one my favorite thought-terminating proverbs.

"Hurting people is wrong, so you should not defend yourself when attacked."

"Imprisoning people is wrong, so we should not imprison thieves."

Also the modern telling of Robin Hood seems to be pretty generally celebrated.

Two wrongs may not make a right, but often enough a smaller wrong is the best recourse we have to avert a greater wrong.

The spirit of the proverb is referring to wrongs which are unrelated to one another, especially when using one to excuse another.