Quotes

It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their own kind.

The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.

Shyness is the prison of the heart.

Care should be taken that the punishment does not exceed the guilt; and also that some men do not suffer for offenses for which others are not even indicted.

Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.

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.

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

Women have worked hard; starved in prison; given of their time and lives that we might sit in the House of Commons and take part in the legislating of this country.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

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

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

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

So justice while she winks at crimes, Stumbles on innocence sometimes.

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.

The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.

If you share the crime of your friend, you make it your own.

Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.

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.

As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.

The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.

One crime has to be concealed by another.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

The public have more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.

Prison makes you a better judge of character. You pick up on people much faster.