Quotes

What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor.

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.

Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

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

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.

Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.

The uneven impact of actual enforcement measures tends to mirror and reinforce more general patterns of discrimination (along socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, sexual, and perhaps generational lines) within the society. As a consequence, such enforcement (ineffective as it may be in producing conformity) almost certainly reinforces feelings of alienation already prevalent within major segments of the population.

When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.

The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.

I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.

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

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

It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.

No man should be judge in his own case.

It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.

The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.

Body is a home, a prison and a grave.

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.

Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

We are prisoners of ideas.

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

They took away my money, my family, and my security. Why couldn't they destroy my ideas? We will question them in court tomorrow as we trigger The Revolution of all revolutions!

When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.