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Prison Quotes

Browse 2429 quotes about Prison.

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Prison Quotes

“And what movies we saw! All the actors and actresses whose photographs I collected, with their look of eternity! Their radiance, their eyes, their faces, their voices, the suavity of their movements! Their clothes! Even in prison movies, the stars shone in their prison clothes as if tailors had accompanied them in their downfall.”

IfsLooksEyeFacesActorsStarsVoiceSawsMovementClothesEternityPrisonPhotographActressesMovieRadianceDownfallTailorsActors And Actresses
Book:Borrowed Finery: A Memoir
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“It might be hard to believe, but the air in prison is different. There's like one thousand people sucking on the one little piece of fresh air until it turns stale.”

PeopleBelieveLittlesDifferentHardMightTurnsPiecesAirThousandPrisonStaleFresh AirHard To Believe
Book:The Sister Souljah Collection #1: The Coldest Winter Ever; Midnight, A Gangster Love Story; and Midnight and the Meaning of Love
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“All this [Soviet labor camp for political prisoners] brings about one marked change in your physical appearance; by the end of your first year, you will have what are known as 'zek's eyes.' The look in a zek's eyes is impossible to describe, but once encountered, it is never forgotten. When you emerge, your friends, embracing you, will exclaim: 'Your eyes! Your eyes have changed!' And not one of your tormentors will be able to bear your scrutiny. They will turn away from it, like beaten dogs.”

YearsFirstsLooksEndsEyeAblePoliticalTurnsKnownImpossibleDogChangedBearsLaborPrisonForgottenAppearancePrisonerCampsSovietBeatenScrutinyPhysical AppearancePolitical Prisoners
Author:Irina Ratushinskaya
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“you must not, under any circumstances, allow yourself to hate. Not because your tormentors have not earned it. But if you allow hatred to take root, it would flourish and spread during your years in the camps, driving out everything else, and ultimately corrode and warp your soul. You will no longer be yourself, your identity will be destroyed, all that will remain will be a hysterical, maddened and bedevilled husk of the human being that once was.”

IfsYearsHumansSoulHateHuman BeingsIdentityCircumstancesRootsHatredPrisonSpreadDrivingDestroyedYour SoulBeing YourselfCampsHystericalWarp
Author:Irina Ratushinskaya
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“The supreme value is not the future but the present. The future is a deceitful time that always says to us, 'Not Yet,' and thus denies us... Whoever builds a house for future happiness builds a prison for the present.”

ValuesHousePrisonDenySupremeDeceitfulFuture Happiness
Book:The Labyrinth of Solitude: And the Other Mexico ; Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude ; Mexico and the United States ; The Philanthropic Ogre
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“Regardless of nationality, all men are brothers. God is "our Father who art in heaven." The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is unconditional and inexorable. ... The lowly Nazarene taught us the doctrine of non-resistance, and so convinced was he of the soundness of that doctrine that he sealed his belief with death on the cross. ... When human law conflicts with Divine law, my duty is clear. Conscience, my infallible guide, impels me to tell you that prison, death, or both, are infinitely preferable to joining any branch of the Army.”

MenHumansArtLawFatherBeliefHeavenClearTaughtDivineBrotherDutyConflictConscienceCrossesArmyPrisonGuidesConvincedResistanceDoctrineBranchesCommandmentsUnconditionalOur FatherNationalityJoiningTaught UsInfallibleInexorableClear ConscienceSoundnessDivine LawNazarene
Author:Ben Salmon
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“The essence of justice is mercy. Making a child suffer for wrong-doing is merciful to the child. There is no mercy in letting the child have its own will, plunging headlong to destruction with the bits in its mouth. There is no mercy to society nor to the criminal if the wrong is not repressed and the right vindicated. We injure the culprit who comes up to take his proper doom at the bar of justice, if we do not make him feel that he has done a wrong thing. We may deliver his body from the prison, but not at the expense of justice nor to his own injury.”

IfsFeelsMayChildrenDoneBodySufferingBitsJusticeMouthsDestructionMercyEssencePrisonCome UpCriminalsBarsInjuryExpensesDoomWrong ThingsMercifulRetributionRepressedCulpritVindicated
Author:Edwin Hubbel Chapin
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“I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.”

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Author:Barack Obama
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“It is not every calamity that is a curse, and early adversity is often a blessing. Perhaps Madame de Maintenon would never have mounted a throne had not her cradle been rocked in a prison. Surmounted obstacles not only teach, but hearten us in our future struggles; for virtue must be learnt, though, unfortunately, some of the vices come as it were by inspiration.”

InspirationTeachStruggleVirtueBlessingAdversityPrisonVicesObstaclesCurseOur FutureThronesCalamityCradle
Author:James Sharp
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“As we have seen, WikiLeaks is a robust organization. During my time in solitary confinement in the basement of a Victorian prison, we continue to release, our media partners continued to write stories. The important revelations from this material continue to come out. We have approximately 2,000 cables into 250,000.”

WritingImportantStoriesMediaMaterialsOrganizationPrisonPartnersReleaseMy TimeRevelationsSolitaryCablesBasementsRobustVictorianConfinementWikileaksSolitary Confinement
Author:Julian Assange
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“School is established, not in order that it should be convenient for the children to study, but that teachers should be able to teach in comfort. The children's conversations, motion, merriment are not convenient for the teacher, and so in the schools, which are built on the plan of prisons, are prohibited.”

ShouldChildrenAbleSchoolOrderTeachStudyTeacherPlansComfortConversationBuiltPrisonConvenientMerriment
Book:Tolstoy on Education
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“In South America euphemism appears to be the grisly preserve of violent power. 'Liberty' was the name of the biggest prison in Uruguay under the military dictatorship, while in Chile one of the concentration camps was called 'Dignity.' It was the self-styled 'Peace and Justice' paramilitary group in Chiapas [Mexico] that in 1997 shot 45 peasants in the back, nearly all of them women and children, as they prayed in a church. What have the souls of the south done over the past few decades to deserve quite so much liberty and dignity and peace and justice?”

ChildrenSoulSelfDoneAmericaPastNamesLanguageChurchJusticeLibertyViolenceGroupsMilitaryShotsDeserveDignityPrisonSouthDecadesViolentOppressionPreservesConcentrationCampsMexicoDictatorshipPeasantsOver The PastPeace And JusticeChileSouth AmericaConcentration CampEuphemism
Author:Isabel Fonseca
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“Two aesthetics exist: the passive aesthetic of mirrors and the active aesthetic of prisms. Guided by the former, art turns into a copy of the environment's objectivity or the individual's psychic history. Guided by the latter, art is redeemed, makes the world into its instrument, and forges, beyond spatial and temporal prisons, a personal vision.”

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Author:Jorge Luis Borges
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“While my chosen form of story-writing is obviously a special and perhaps a narrow one, it is none the less a persistent and permanent type of expression, as old as literature itself. There will always be a certain small percentage of persons who feel a burning curiosity about unknown outer space, and a burning desire to escape from the prison-house of the known and the real into those enchanted lands of incredible adventure and infinite possibilities which dreams open up to us, and which things like deep woods, fantastic urban towers, and flaming sunsets momentarily suggest.”

FeelsWritingPersonsRealStoriesDreamFormDesireCertainLiteratureHouseSpaceKnownLandSpecialPossibilityAdventureExpressionTypeInfinitePrisonCuriosityIncrediblesWoodsChosenBurningFantasticPermanentSunsetTowersUrbanPersistentPercentagesEnchantedOuter SpaceInfinite PossibilitiesStory WritingBurning Desire
Book:H.P. Lovecraft: The Ultimate Collection (160 Works Including Early Writings, Fiction, Collaborations, Poetry, Essays & Bonus Audiobook Links)
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“Perhaps you have heard about the college executives who were discussing what they wanted to do after retirement age. One hoped to run a prison or school of correction so that the alumni would never come back to visit. Another chose to manage an orphan asylum so that he would not be plagued with advice from parents.”

RunningAgeWantedSchoolParentEducationHeardAdviceCollegePrisonManageExecutivesRetirementOrphanDiscussingCorrectionsAsylumsRetirement AgeAlumni
Author:Robert H. Jackson
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“It's so hard for me to even acknowledge America without talking about race. If you look at our society, if you look at the prisons, if you look at the poverty and which side of the line the majority of people are, we have to acknowledge how we divide ourselves up, that there's racism alive in this country. And it's not in the law. It's in our minds. And that's what we have to actively battle.”

PeopleIfsMindLooksCountryHardAmericaLawSidesLinesRaceTalkingPovertyAliveBattleRacismMajorityPrisonAcknowledgeOur SocietyDivides
Author:Dave Matthews
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“I have sat with the mothers who have lost addicted sons. I have sat with families of kids who have been killed in drug-related gang violence. I have been to the prisons. I have seen the effects. At some point in time, I felt I had to do something other than write a novel about it, that I needed to try to make some sort of contribution, at least try to make some sort of difference in the real world.”

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Author:Don Winslow
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