Alcatraz Quotes

• From 1934 to 1963, the biggest criminals in America ended up on Alcatraz. Nowadays they end up on Wall Street.

  Craig Ferguson

  Wall, America, Criminals

  53 Copy quote

• Every window in Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco.

  Susanna Kaysen

  Cheer Up, Views, San Francisco

  Susanna Kaysen (2013). “Girl, Interrupted”, p.6, Vintage

  59 Copy quote

  Show source

• You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.

  Gennifer Choldenko

  Mother, Said, Worst

  Gennifer Choldenko (2013). “Al Capone Does My Shirts”, p.3, Bloomsbury Publishing

  43 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have long argued that we need to reopen Alcatraz to house government criminals, and let tourists on excursion boats in San Francisco Bay pay to chum the water with meat with an expired sell-by date that would otherwise have to be discarded.

  L. Neil Smith

  Government, San Francisco, Long

  "It Has to Cost Them Something". The Libertarian Enterprise, www.ncc-1776.org. February 08, 2009.

  66 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's like an Alcatraz around my neck

  Thomas Menino

  Silly, Dumb, Necks

  58 Copy quote

• I went to visit Alcatraz years ago when I was on tour with the Pistols, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I genuinely, really, thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning there. I just liked the quietness and stillness of what is basically a cruel prison complex. I still found some kind of joy in that. That's how I am.

  John Lydon

  Morning, Years, Joy

  Interview With Jason Heller, music.avclub.com. April 6, 2010.

  35 Copy quote

  Show source

• The first thing I did when I was forty years old, I put handcuffs on and I jumped off Alcatraz prison and swam to San Francisco handcuffed. That made national publicity. Then, there were three or four years where I would do more difficult feats. Another birthday I towed a thousand pound boat across the Golden Gate. On my 65th Birthday I towed 65 boats a mile and a half in Tokyo. On my 70th Birthday I towed 70 boats with 70 people in it with my feet and hands tied a mile and a half in Long Beach.... My next Birthday I will be 93. I'm gonna tow my wife across the bathtub.

  Jack LaLanne

  Beach, Hands, Years

  Interview with Antonia Venezia, aliveeastbay.com. March 2007.

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• Before AIM, Indians were dispirited, defeated, and culturally dissolving. People were ashamed to be Indian. You didn't see the young people wearing braids or chokers or ribbon shirts in those days. Hell, I didn't wear 'em. People didn't Sun Dance, they didn't Sweat, they were losing their languages. Then there was that spark at Alcatraz, and we took off. Man, we took a ride across this country. We put Indians and Indian rights smack dab in the middle of the public consciousness for the first time since the so-called Indian wars.

  Russell Means

  Country, War, Men

  155 Copy quote

• Pebble Beach is Alcatraz with grass.

  Bob Hope

  Beach, Golf, Pebbles

  15 Copy quote

• So, you wrecked Alcatraz Island, made Mount St. Helens explode, and displaced half a million people, but at least you're safe." "Yep, that pretty much covers it.

  Rick Riordan

  Islands, People, Half

  8 Copy quote

• What is the story with the airport sinks, that they will not give us a twist-on twist-off human faucet. "Is it that too risky for the human population? We have to do the one-handed pain-in-the-ass Alcatraz-style faucets. "What is it they think we will do? Turn 'em all on full, run out into the parking lot, laughing, pushing each other into the bushes?

  Jerry Seinfeld

  Running, Pain, Thinking

  10 Copy quote