Prison Quotes - Page 16

• The Indian...stands free and unconstrained in Nature, is her inhabitant and not her guest, and wears her easily and gracefully. But the civilized man has the habits of the house. His house is a prison.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, House, Guests

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.48, BookBaby

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• Thus, seamed with many scars Bursting these prison bars, Up to its native stars My soul ascended! There from the flowing bowl Deep drinks the warrior's soul, Skoal! to the Northland! skoal! Thus the tale ended.

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Stars, Warrior, Soul

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1847). “The Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Complete in One Volume”, p.38

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• Nearly a quarter of American men were in the Armed forces. The rest were in school, in prison, or were George W. Bush.

  Bill Bryson

  School, Men, Quarters

  "The Life And Times of the Thunderbolt Kid". Book by Bill Bryson, 2006.

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• In South Korea, a scientist considered to be one of the pioneers in the field of cloning has been sentenced to two years in prison. At least, they think it's him.

  Jay Leno

  Thinking, Korea, Years

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• The man who accused Richard Simmons of slapping him in an airport has dropped the assault charge. Dropped it! Upon hearing the news, Simmons sadly responded, "You mean I'm not going to prison?"

  Dennis Miller

  Mean, Men, Airports

  "Daily Ror-shocked: Is CNBC's Dennis Miller funny?" by Jeremy Cluchey, www.mediamatters.org. July 07, 2004.

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• The formula for prison is a lack of space counterbalanced by a surplus of time. This is what really bothers you, that you can't win. Prison is lack of alternatives, and the telescopic predictability of the future is what drives you crazy.

  Joseph Brodsky

  Crazy, Winning, Space

  "Less Than One: Selected Essays". p. 28. Book by Joseph Brodsky, 1986.

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• Oh, the inmates and the prisoners I found they were my kind And it was there inside the bars I found my peace of mind But the jails they were too crowded Institutions overflowed So they turned me loose to walk upon Life's hurried tangled road

  Bob Dylan

  Jail, Tangled, Mind

  Song: Ballad of Donald White

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• I know no other way out of what is both the maze of the eternal present and the prison of the self except with a string of words.

  Lewis H. Lapham

  Self, Mazes, Way

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• The way people are treated in them [prisons] is very similar to gulags.

  Jerry Brown

  People, Way, Gulags

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• Satisfaction linked with dishonor or with harm to others is a prison for the seeker.

  Zoroaster

  Satisfaction, Dishonor, Harm

  "The Gathas". Book by Zoroaster. Translation by Dinshaw Jamshedji Irani, in K. D. Irani, Rabindranath Tagore, p.96, Yasna 53, 6, 1999.

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• Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return. Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office. Israel's own Kahan commission found that Sharon shared responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

  Ken Livingstone

  Country, Military, War

  "This is about Israel, not anti-semitism" by Ken Livingstone, www.theguardian.com. March 4, 2005.

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• Children of those who have been incarcerated are five times more likely to go to prison than children of parents who have never been incarcerated. The sins of the father visiting the child.

  Sam Brownback

  Children, Father, Parent

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• DEBT, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave-driver. As, pent in an aquarium, the troutlet Swims round and round his tank to find an outlet, Pressing his nose against the glass that holds him, Nor ever sees the prison that enfolds him; So the poor debtor, seeing naught around him, Yet feels the narrow limits that impound him, Grieves at his debt and studies to evade it, And finds at last he might as well have paid it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Grieving, Glasses, Aquariums

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2379, Delphi Classics

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• The prison of lust is just that very one of which the soul shuts the doors upon herself; for each act of indulgence is the shooting of a fresh bolt.

  Plato

  Doors, Soul, Lust

  Plato, Richard Dacre Archer-Hind (1973). “The Phaedo of Plato”, Ayer Co Pub

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• I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows

  Leonard Cohen

  Rainbow, Damnation, Broke

  Song: The Old Revolution, Album: Songs From A Room, 1969

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• It is the system, rather than individuals, that is the source of pollution and degradation. My prison-house environment is but another manifestation of the Midas-hand, whose cursed touch turns everything to the brutal service of Mammon.

  Alexander Berkman

  Hands, House, Degradation

  Alexander Berkman (1912). “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist”

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• Man's own form in space - his body - was a private prison; and that it was because of this imprisoning misery - because he was hungry and overworked and went to a horrid place called home late at night in the rain, and his bones ached and his head was heavy.

  Willem de Kooning

  Rain, Home, Night

  "Abstract Expressionist Painting in America". Book by William C. Seitz, p. 135, 1983.

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• The birth of a child is the imprisonment of a soul. The soul must work its way out of prison, and, in doing so, provide itself with wings for a future journey. It is for each of us to determine whether our wings shall be those of an angel or a grub!

  William Gilmore Simms

  Children, Angel, Journey

  William Gilmore Simms (1853). “Egeria: Or Voices of Thought and Counsel, for the Woods and Wayside”, p.26

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• Were a stranger to drop on a sudden into this world, I would show him, as a specimen of its ills, a hospital full of diseases, a prison crowded with malefactors and debtors, a field of battle strewed with carcasses, a fleet foundering in the ocean, a nation languishing under tyranny, famine, or pestilence. To turn the gay side of life to him, and give him a notion of its pleasures; whither should I conduct him? to a ball, to an opera, to court? He might justly think, that I was only showing him a diversity of distress and sorrow.

  David Hume

  Ocean, Gay, Thinking

  David Hume (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)”, p.4068, Delphi Classics

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• It is easy for most of us to keep our hands from picking and stealing when picking and stealing plainly lead to prison diet and prison garments. But when silks and satins come of it, and with the silks and satins general respect, the net result of honesty does not seem to be so secure.

  Anthony Trollope

  Honesty, Hands, Doe

  Anthony Trollope (2015). “The Prime Minister”, p.103, Booklassic

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• The idea of putting old Browborough into prison for conduct which habit had made second nature to a large proportion of the House was distressing to Members of Parliament generally.

  Anthony Trollope

  Ideas, House, Habit

  Anthony Trollope (2015). “Anthony Trollope: The Chronicles of Barsetshire & The Palliser Novels: The Warden + The Barchester Towers + Doctor Thorne + Framley Parsonage + The Small House at Allington + The Last Chronicle of Barset + Can You Forgive Her? + The Prime Minister + Eustace Diamonds…”, p.4600, e-artnow

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• People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square. They are now free and they don't know where to go.

  Vaclav Havel

  Dark, Tunnels, Squares

  "Address at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London". The Independent, March 22, 1990.

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• Loneliness feels like prison.

  Naz?m Hikmet

  Loneliness, Feels

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• Welcome baby it's your turn to live they're laying for you chicken pox whooping cough smallpox malaria TB heart disease cancer and so on unemployment hunger and so on train wrecks bus accidents plane crashes on-the-job injuries earthquakes floods droughts and so on heartbreak alcoholism and so on nightsticks prisons doors and so on they're laying for you the atom bomb and so on welcome baby it's your turn to live they're laying for you socialism communism and so on.

  Naz?m Hikmet

  Baby, Jobs, Cancer

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• No one in this earthly prison of the body has sufficient strength of his own to press forward with a due degree of watchfulness, and the great majority [of Christians] are kept down with such great weakness that they stagger and halt and even creep on the ground, and so make very slight advances.

  John Calvin

  Christian, Body, Weakness

  John Calvin, Henry Van Andel (2004). “Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life”, p.22, Baker Books

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