Quotes

The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them.

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.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

A variety in punishment is of utility, as well as a proportion.

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.

Wherever any one is against his will, that is to him a prison.

Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.

The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.

In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.

The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.

Pardon is the virtue of victory.

The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.

The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I've spent more time in jail.

Every instance of a man's suffering the penalty of the law is an instance of the failure of that penalty in effecting its purpose, which is to deter.

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

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.

The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.

The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.

On average, drug prisoners spend more time in federal prison than rapists, who often get out on early release because of the overcrowding in prison caused by the Drug War.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a God.

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

To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can thus flatter himself.

To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush.

The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.