Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush.
The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.
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.
In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.
He who profits by a crime commits it.
A sick person is a prisoner.
Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil in hell.
Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that.
One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
The best situation of all, and one frequently utilized, is for jails and prisons to allow volunteer ministers of all faiths to enter prisons and offer their services to the inmates who want them. That way, the religious needs of inmates are met but without government funds being spent.
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.
There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done. School and prison.
Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
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.
Self is the only prison that can bind the soul.
The object of punishment is prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
Concepts of justice must have hands and feet to carry out justice in every case in the shortest possible time and the lowest possible cost. That is the challenge to every lawyer and judge in America.
