The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off
The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off a prison spoon is something you will never forget.
He who does not prevent a crime when he
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
One of the many lessons that one learns
One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.
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.
In prisons, those things withheld from
In prisons, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.
Justice is that virtue of the soul which
Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
Laws do not persuade just because they
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
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.
He who opens a school door, closes a
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
To trial bring her stolen charms, and
To trial bring her stolen charms, and let her prison be my arms.
When you are younger you get blamed for
When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed and when you're older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out.
A variety in punishment is of utility,
A variety in punishment is of utility, as well as a proportion.
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.
If it's near dinner-time, the foreman
If it's near dinner-time, the foreman takes out his watch when the jury has retired, and says: "Dear me, gentlemen, ten minutes to five, I declare! I dine at five, gentlemen." "So do I," says everybody else, except two men who ought to have dined at three and seem more than half disposed to stand out in consequence. The foreman smiles, and puts up his watch:--"Well, gentlemen, what do we say, plaintiff or defendant, gentlemen?
Corporal punishment falls far more
Corporal punishment falls far more heavily than most weighty pecuniary penalty.
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can
To be at peace in crime! Ah, who can thus flatter himself.
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch;
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
Every instance of a man's suffering the
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.
Law is merely the expression of the will
Law is merely the expression of the will of the strongest for the time being, and therefore laws have no fixity, but shift from generation to generation.
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.
Crimes lead one into another; they who
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a
Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, shall be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
