By noiselessly going to a prison a
By noiselessly going to a prison a civil-resister ensures a calm atmosphere.
I never told a victim story about my
I never told a victim story about my imprisonment. Instead, I told a transformation story - about how prison changed my outlook, about how I saw that communication, truth, and trust are at the heart of power.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
I just remember that disturbing feeling
I just remember that disturbing feeling of walking into that prison, the complete loss of privacy, the complete loss of stimulation, dignity.
Forgiveness, that noblest of all
Forgiveness, that noblest of all self-denial, is a virtue which he alone who can practise in himself can willingly believe in another.
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more
As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
Vices are not crimes.
Vices are not crimes.
In jail a man has no personality. He is
In jail a man has no personality. He is a minor disposal problem and a few entries on reports. Nobody cares who loves or hates him, what he looks like, what he did with his life. Nobody reacts to him unless he gives trouble. Nobody abuses him. All that is asked of him is that he go quietly to the right cell and remain quiet when he gets there. There is nothing to fight against, nothing to be mad at. The jailers are quiet men without animosity or sadism.
What is crime amongst the multitude, is
What is crime amongst the multitude, is only vice among the few.
The power of punishment is to silence,
The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.
It becomes not a law-maker to be a
It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker.
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't
Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?
Society has used the juvenile courts to
Society has used the juvenile courts to create a caste system where there are throw-away people.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
He who does not prevent a crime when he
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
He was a first-time nonviolent possible
He was a first-time nonviolent possible offender, ... And under the mandatory minimums, he was put in prison for 15 years. Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, but the mandatory minimums don't give judges any discretion to look at the background of the case, to read into the specifics of the case. I don't know a judge who really is in favor of the mandatory minimums.
There's no greater threat to our
There's no greater threat to our independence, to our cherished freedoms and personal liberties than the continual, relentless injection of these insidious poisons into our system. We must decide whether we cherish independence from drugs, without which there is no freedom.
It is impossible to go through life
It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
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.
The solution to our drug problem is not
The solution to our drug problem is not in incarceration.
The world is a prison in which solitary
The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
Man is condemned to be free.
Man is condemned to be free.
He had drawn many a thousand of these
He had drawn many a thousand of these rations in prisons and camps, and though he'd never had an opportunity to weight them on scales, and although, being a man of timid nature, he knew no way of standing up for his rights, he, like every other prisoner, had discovered long ago that honest weight was never to be found in the bread-cutting. There was short weight in every ration. The only point was how short. So every day you took a look to soothe your soul - today, maybe, they haven't snitched any.
The world itself is but a large prison,
The world itself is but a large prison, out of which some are daily led to execution.
