Laws do not persuade just because they
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
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 submit that an individual who breaks a
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
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.
The difference between tax avoidance and
The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison walls.
Liberty is rendered even more precious
Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
A pedestal is as much a prison as any
A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.
One crime has to be concealed by
One crime has to be concealed by another.
One crime is everything; two nothing.
One crime is everything; two nothing.
The degree of civilization in a society
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
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.
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not
The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.
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?
Prison continues, on those who are
Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.
Crimes lead one into another; they who
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.
The punishment can be remitted; the
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
The idea that the sole aim of punishment
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.
Educate your children to self-control,
Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future lives and crimes to society.
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison,
Steal goods and you’ll go to prison, steal lands and you are a king.
Society prepares the crime; the criminal
Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it.
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.
We shall fight against them, throw them
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
It was only when I lay there on the
It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not between states nor between social classes nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, through all human hearts. And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life.
Nor cell, nor chain, nor dungeon speaks
Nor cell, nor chain, nor dungeon speaks to the murderer like the voice of solitude.
