There is no greater punishment of
There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch;
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
The only difference between me and my
The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I've spent more time in jail.
We are prisoners of ideas.
We are prisoners of ideas.
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I
I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up...I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
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.
I never saw a man who looked With such a
I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.
The only real prison is fear, and the
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself.
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.”
Those magistrates who can prevent crime,
Those magistrates who can prevent crime, and do not, in effect encourage it.
On average, drug prisoners spend more
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.
There are only two places in the world
There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison.
No man should be judge in his own case.
No man should be judge in his own case.
Experts and the educated elite have
Experts and the educated elite have replaced what worked with what sounded good. Society was far more civilized before they took over our schools, prisons, welfare programs, police departments and courts. It's high time we ran these people out of our lives and went back to common sense.
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit
To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.
I can work for the Lord in or out of
I can work for the Lord in or out of prison.
The most anxious man in a prison is the
The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.
The virtue of justice consists in
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
No obligation to justice does force a
No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the sharpest sentence.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
Do not lay on the multitude the blame
Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.
If punishment reaches not the mind and
If punishment reaches not the mind and makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
I asked a man in prison once how he
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.
Crimes lead one into another; they who
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.