Quotessence
Home / Topics / Prison Quotes

Prison Quotes

Browse 2429 quotes about Prison.

Related topics

PeopleIfsMenYearsThinkingWorldCrimeKnowsPrisonerWantWayJailWallLongMindDoeStatesHas BeensHumansWellsLawSchoolShouldSoulCountryGovernmentPunishmentGivingKindCriminalsLooksMadeNeedsCellsFirstsMayHomeFeelsLittlesWarHouseMeanBarsBelieveMightChildrenDrugSaidBreakBlackDoorsPersonsWritingI CanTryingWould BeHeartPastPoliceTwoBodyEndsInmatesLibertyStillsPoliticalRunningSelfWholeRealReasonCommunityDifferentFoundHandsRoomsSentencesTodayUsedBookDonePoorPrison WallsSufferingAmericaJusticeSecurityThreeChainsIdeasJobsPresidentProblemShowsSometimesTermYoungEyeHardHelpingmore

Prison Quotes

“One of the greatest evils of the day among those outside of prison is their sense of futility. Young people say, What is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment.”

PeopleMomentsActionYoungTimeEvilEffortStepsResponsibleLaysPrisonPresent MomentBricksBeing ResponsibleFutilityOne Step At A TimeSmall Efforts
Author:Dorothy Day
Create image

“The most miserable prison in the world is the prison we make for ourselves when we refuse to show mercy. Our thoughts become shackled, our emotions are chained, the will is almost paralyzed. But when we show mercy, all of these bonds are broken, and we enter into a joyful liberty that frees us to share God's love with others.”

WorldShowsEmotionLibertyShareBrokenForgivenessMercyPrisonRefuseMiserableJoyfulShow MeOur ThoughtsGod's LoveParalyzedChained
Author:Warren W. Wiersbe
Create image

“There is much to be done, there is much that can be done... One person of integrity, can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our lives will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.”

KnowsNeedsChildrenPersonsLongDoneVoiceDifferencesFreedomForgetQualityOur LivesDependsIntegrityShameVictimFilledPrisonHungryBeing TrueMaking A DifferenceLife And DeathAnguishNot AloneDissidents
Author:Elie Wiesel
Create image

“I believe that it would be almost impossible to find anywhere in America a black man who has lived further down in the mud of human society than I have; or a black man who has been any more ignorant than I have; or a black man who has suffered more anguish during his life than I have. But it is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come.”

MenBelieveHumansHas BeensWould BeAmericaJoyI BelieveBlackFreedomDarknessImpossibleSlaveryPrisonAppreciationIgnorantAnguishMudSweetestHuman Society
Author:Malcolm X
Create image

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing "God Bless America." No, no, no, God d*mn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God d*mn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God d*mn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

PeopleWantGivingHumansLongGovernmentAmericaLawThreeCitizensDrugBiggerPrisonKillingStrikesSupremeInnocentPatriotismBlessWant UGod BlessGod Bless AmericaThree Strikes
Author:Jeremiah Wright
Create image

“Never work just for money. Money alone won't save your soul or build a decent family life or help you sleep at night. We're the richest nation on Earth, with the highest number of imprisoned people in the world. Our drug addictions and child poverty are among the highest in the industrialized world. So don't ever confuse wealth or fame with character.”

PeopleWorldChildrenSoulCharacterHelpingEarthNightNationsWealthSleepMoneyNumbersPovertyDrugFameHighestPrisonAddictionYour SoulDecentFamily LifeDrug AddictionDrug Addict
Author:Marian Wright Edelman
Create image

“When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust.”

SoulFeelingsLightJoyUniverseNaturalBrainBloodWallPrisonAtheistMythConvincedGhostBarsDustMy SoulBoltsDungeonsAnti God
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
Create image

“The idea that the United States can't guard its own border is silly. It's a sign that were not serious about this...people who legally shouldn't be here. When the state is forced to take care of them - for example, if they have an illegal alien in their prison - the federal government should pay for it. If Washington has to pay for it, Washington's going to more rapidly understand why we have to take some necessary steps.”

PeopleIfsShouldIdeasStatesGovernmentCareUnitedPayStepsUnited StatesExampleSeriousPrisonTake CareSillyImmigrationAliensBordersIllegalFederal GovernmentIllegal Aliens
Author:Newt Gingrich
Create image

“Every time we sign a treaty with another country, the treaty (should) include prisoner transfer provisions.... Under these provisions, the country in which the crimes were committed could demand that the convicts' country of origin incarcerate the prisoners for the terms to which they were sentenced.... Foreign felons in U.S. prisons are exacerbating out budget and law enforcement problems.... We will never get countries to take back their prisoners unless we have some leverage. NAFTA gives us that opportunity.”

GivingShouldCountryProblemLawOpportunityTermCrimeDemandPrisonCommittedImmigrationBudgetsPrisonerLaw EnforcementEnforcementProvisionTransfersTreatiesConvictsFelonsNafta
Author:Kathleen Brown
Create image

“The people resemble a wild beast, which, naturally fierce and accustomed to live in the woods, has been brought up, as it were, in a prison and in servitude, and having by accident got its liberty, not being accustomed to search for its food, and not knowing where to conceal itself, easily becomes the prey of the first who seeks to incarcerate it again.”

PeopleFirstsHas BeensArtWarLibertyKnowingPrisonWoodsAccidentsBeastFierceNot KnowingAccustomedPreyArt Of WarServitudeWild Beasts
Author:Niccolo Machiavelli
Create image

“Concentrated power can be always wielded in the interest of the few and at the expense of the many. Government in its last analysis is this power reduced to a science. Governments never lead; they follow progress. When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then.”

GovernmentLastsMovingVoiceInterestSilenceStepsPowerStruggleProgressPrisonAnalysisMinoritiesExpensesStakes
Author:Lucy Parsons
Create image

“So long as there are poor, - I am poor, - So long as there are prisons, - I am a prisoner, - So long as there are sick, - I am weak, - So long as there is ignorance, - I must learn the truth, - So long as there is hate, - I must love, - So long as there is hunger, - I am famished. - Such is the identification Our Divine Lord would have us make with all whom He made in love and for love.”

LongMadeHatePoorLordIgnoranceDivineWeakSickPrisonSaintHungerPrisonerServing OthersIdentification
Author:Fulton J. Sheen
Create image

“The main point in our report was to recommend decriminalization...because of the way laws are applied, which have not worked. We have applied them for decades and it's got the prisons filled with lots of young people who sometimes come out destroyed for having half an ounce... We should approach it through education and health issues rather than a brutal reaction... There is need for change in policy, but it has to start with debate and discussion... I think the whole approach has to be reviewed.”

PeopleThinkingWayNeedsShouldSometimesWholeLawYoungHalfIssuesPolicyApproachFilledPrisonDecadesDebateReactionsDestroyedDiscussionReportsMarijuanaBrutalNeed A ChangeHealth Issues
Author:Kofi Annan
Create image

“No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in the wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have "learned in suffering what they taught in song." In bonds Bunyan lived the allegory that he afterwards wrote, and we may thank Bedford Jail for the Pilgrim's Progress. Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He put them in the fire.”

WorldWritingMayPersonsGodUseChristianSufferingSongBornFireGraceProgressWrittenTaughtPoetSorrowComfortBiblePrisonNovelistsWildernessJailThinkerPilgrimPsalmsAllegory
Author:George MacDonald
Create image

“I account this body nothing but a close prison to my soul; and the earth a larger prison to my body. I may not break prison till I be loosed by death; but I will leave it, not unwillingly,when I am loosed.”

MaySoulBodyEarthChristianDeathBreakBlessingAccountsPrisonChristian LifeMy SoulChastisement
Book:The Works: Now First Collected : with Some Account of His Life and Sufferings. Devotional works
Create image