Quotes

There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.

I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.

I was put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let out the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand, and, having put on my mended shoe, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour -- for the horse was soon tackled -- was in the midst of a huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.

Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.

I just remember that disturbing feeling of walking into that prison, the complete loss of privacy, the complete loss of stimulation, dignity.

No man survives when freedom fails. The best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cry 'appease, appease' are hanged by those they tried to please.

The world itself is but a large prison, out of which some are daily led to execution.

Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.

Concepts of justice must have hands and feet to carry out justice in every case in the shortest possible time and the lowest possible cost. That is the challenge to every lawyer and judge in America.

He had drawn many a thousand of these rations in prisons and camps, and though he'd never had an opportunity to weight them on scales, and although, being a man of timid nature, he knew no way of standing up for his rights, he, like every other prisoner, had discovered long ago that honest weight was never to be found in the bread-cutting. There was short weight in every ration. The only point was how short. So every day you took a look to soothe your soul - today, maybe, they haven't snitched any.

Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.

America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.

Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.

The only effect of public punishment is to show the rabble how bravely it can be borne; and that every one who hath lost a toe-nail hath suffered worse.

To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.

I was in prison, and you came unto me. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
~(Jesus Christ) Matthew 25:36, 40

The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison walls.

To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

A just chastisement may benefit a man, though it seldom does; but an unjust one changes all his blood to gall.

Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.

Prosecution I have managed to avoid; but I have been arrested, charged in a police court, have refused to be bound over, and thereupon have been unconditionally released - to my great regret; for I have always wanted to know what going to prison was like.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

Fast closed with double grills
And triple gates – the cell
To wicked souls is hell;
But to a mind that's innocent
'Tis only iron, wood and stone.

I don't like being famous - it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse.