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.
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them.
Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal.
I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.
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 sick person is a prisoner.
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
Hard cases, it is said, make bad law.
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world; And, for because the world is populous, And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.
One crime has to be concealed by another.
Justice renders to every one his due.
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
If you treat prisoners well, they will be less angry, less inclined to violence inside prison, less likely to provoke violent actions by guards, less likely to have reason to file brutality lawsuits that cost taxpayers a bundle and waste administrators' time. And most important, well-treated prisoners will be less likely to leave prison angrier, more vicious and more inclined to criminal behavior than when they went in.
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.
While crime is punished it yet increases.
We are prisoners of ideas.
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.
When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books. That Tolstoy crap - people shouldn't read that stuff.
Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of prison stronger.
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.
Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
