I am certain that nothing has done so
I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin.
Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.
No written law has been more binding
No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
And while God had work for Paul, he
And while God had work for Paul, he found him friends both in court and prison. Let persecutors send saints to prison, God can provide a keeper for their turn.
History is full of people who went to
History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.
Wherever any one is against his will,
Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.
The law does not pretend to punish
The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
The number of laws is constantly growing
The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.
The object of punishment is prevention
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can thus flatter himself.
I was in prison, and you came unto me.
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 thoughts of a prisoner - they're not
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.
A just chastisement may benefit a man,
A just chastisement may benefit a man, though it seldom does; but an unjust one changes all his blood to gall.
You stuff somebody into the American
You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
I wrote a million words in the first
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
We don't seem to be able to check crime,
We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business.
I know how men in exile feed on dreams
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
Overlook our deeds, since you know that
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination.
Here the great art lies, to discern in
Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.
He who does not prevent a crime when he
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
A country is in a bad state, which is
A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose.
