Quotes

Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X came out of prison stronger.

Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries.

Whatever is worthy to be loved for anything is worthy of preservation. A wise and dispassionate legislator, if any such should ever arise among men, will not condemn to death him who has done or is likely to do more service than injury to society. Blocks and gibbets are the nearest objects with legislators, and their business is never with hopes or with virtues.

I wrote a million words in the first year, and I could never have done that outside of prison.

I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.

I was in prison, and you came unto me. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
~(Jesus Christ) Matthew 25:36, 40

I have been studying how I may compare this prison where I live unto the world; Shut up in the prison of their own consciences.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing.

Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?

It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.

Pardon is the virtue of victory.

We who live in prison, and in whose lives there is no event but sorrow, have to measure time by throbs of pain, and the record of bitter moments.

We're in a war. People who blast some pot on a casual basis are guilty of treason.

I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.

The perfection of a thing consists in its essence; there are perfect criminals, as there are men of perfect probity.

I know not whether laws be right, or whether laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol is that the wall is strong; And that each day is like a year, a year whose days are long.

If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves we will still evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!

The world itself is but a large prison, out of which some are daily led to execution.

Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.

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

The mellow sweetness of pumpkin pie off a prison spoon is something you will never forget.

Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.

Faults of the head are punished in this world, those of the heart in another; but as most of our vices are compound, so also is their punishment.

The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.