A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

CONFESS and be hanged

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  1589 ‘MISOPHONUS’ De Caede Gallorum Regis A2^V Confesse and be hangede man In English some saie. 1604 SHAKESPEARE Othello IV. i. 37 Handkerchief— confessions—handkerchief! To confess, and be hanged for his labour. 1672 MARVELL Rehearsal Transprosed 74 After so ample a Confession as he hath made, must he now be hang’d too to make good the Proverb? 1821 SCOTT Pirate III. xii. At the gallows!.. Confess and be hanged is a most reverend proverb. 1951 M. C. BARNES With all my Heart vii. ‘People who commit high treason get hanged.’.. ‘Very well, confess and be hanged!’ ■ confession
  

confessed see a FAULT confessed is half redressed.
CONFESSION is good for the soul

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  c 1641 in E. Beveridge D. Fergusson’s Scottish Proverbs (1924) no. 159 Ane open confessione is good for the soul. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 270 Open Confession is good for the Soul. Spoken ironically, to them that boast of their ill Deeds. 1881 J. PAYN Grape from Thorn III. xxxix. Confession maybe good for the soul; but it is doubtful whether the avowal of incapacity to the parties desirous of securing our services is quite judicious. 1942 R. A. J. WALLING Corpse with Eerie Eye v. That’s open confession, but I don’t know that it does my soul any good. 1983 R. HILL Deadheads IV. iv. Confession may be good for the soul but it’s pretty lousy for marriages. 2002 Washington Times 1 Sept. D7 Confession may be good for the soul but not if it’s being broadcast. ■ confession
  

A clean CONSCIENCE is a good pillow
There are a number of traditional ways of expressing the notion that a clear conscience enables its possessor to sleep soundly, even, as a well-attested variant claims, through a thunderstorm—as in c 1605 SHAKESPEARE Macbeth IV. i. 85 I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, And sleep in spite of thunder. Cf. Ger. Gut Gewissen ist ein sanftes Ruhekissen; Fr. Une conscience pure est un bon oreiller.

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