One should respect public opinion
One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
So justice while she winks at crimes,
So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
Pardon is the virtue of victory.
The public have more interest in the
The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.
Since 1957, black people have
Since 1957, black people have experienced double-digit unemployment - in good times and bad times. Look at the population of African Americans in prison. They represent more than half the population of prisoners in the country, 55 percent of those on death row.
The contagion of crime is like that of
The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other; they are worse than ever when at the termination of their punishment they re-enter society.
It is certain that the study of human
It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations.
Those magistrates who can prevent crime,
Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.
It is true you cannot eat freedom and
It is true you cannot eat freedom and you cannot power machinery with democracy. But then neither can political prisoners turn on the light in the cells of a dictatorship.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
I never told a victim story about my
I never told a victim story about my imprisonment. Instead, I told a transformation story - about how prison changed my outlook, about how I saw that communication, truth, and trust are at the heart of power.
No obligation to justice does force a
No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence.
I can work for the Lord in or out of
I can work for the Lord in or out of prison.
Show me the prison, Show me the jail,
Show me the prison, Show me the jail, Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale. And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why And there, but for fortune, go you or I.
The worst prison is not of stone. It is
The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.
Three hundred years ago a prisoner
Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: “It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.”
It is not at the table, but in prison,
It is not at the table, but in prison, that you learn who your true friends are.
There is a point at which even justice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
Body is a home, a prison and a grave.
Body is a home, a prison and a grave.
To make punishments efficacious, two
To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.
Taught from infancy that beauty is
Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
Crime is a logical extension of the sort
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behavior that often [is] considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business.
Adversities such as being homeless and
Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
If we were brought to trial for the
If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows.
