Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage.
Quotations about:
jail
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
As I walked out the door toward my freedom, I knew that if I did not leave all the anger, hatred, and bitterness behind, that I would still be in prison.
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) South African revolutionary, politician, statesman
(Attributed)
On his release from 27 years behind bars. Quoted by Hillary Clinton from a conversation she had with him.
For de little stealin’ dey gits you in jail soon or late. For de big stealin’ dey makes you Emperor and puts you in de Hall o’ Fame when you croaks.
Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) Irish American playwright, Nobel laureate
The Emperor Jones, 1 (1921)
I shall stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.
John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer, preacher
(Attributed)
Quoted in M. L. King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" (16 Apr 1963).
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russian novelist
(Attributed)
Sometimes cited to Dostoyevsky's The House of the Dead (1862) [tr. Garnett (1957)], which is a semi-autobiographical work about a Siberian prison camp, but the quotation cannot be found there.
See also Buck, Johnson.
Never build a dungeon you wouldn’t be happy to spend the night in yourself. The world would be a happier place if more people remembered that.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Guards! Guards! [Lord Vetinari] (1989)
(Source)
Said while imprisoned in the dungeon. A few scenes later, he adds, to himself, Never build a dungeon you couldn’t get out of, while escaping.
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Essay (1849-05), “Resistance to Civil Government [On the Duty of Civil Disobedience],” Æsthetic Papers, No. 1, Article 10
(Source)
Based on an 1848 lecture at the Concord Lyceum.
