Prisoner Quotes - Page 17

• Hope and optimism are different. Optimism tends to be based on the notion that there's enough evidence out there to believe things are gonna be better, much more rational, deeply secular, whereas hope looks at the evidence and says, "It doesn't look good at all. Doesn't look good at all. Gonna go beyond the evidence to create new possibilities based on visions that become contagious to allow people to engage in heroic actions always against the odds, no guarantee whatsoever." That's hope. I'm a prisoner of hope, though. Gonna die a prisoner of hope.

  Cornel West

  Believe, Odds, People

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• The sacrifices of our people were very great. Out of a population of one million, 28,000 were killed, 12,600 wounded, 10,000 were made political prisoners in Italy and Germany, and 35,000 made to do forced labour, of ground; all the communications, all the ports, mines and electric power installations were destroyed, our agriculture and livestock were plundered, and our entire national economy was wrecked.

  Enver Hoxha

  Communication, Sacrifice, Electric Power

  "Selected Works, 1941 - 1948" by Enver Hoxha, Tirana: 8 Nëntori Publishing House, vol. I, 1974.

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• I have always had plenty of friends, and now at age sixty, I face four walls as a common prisoner.

  Albert Kesselring

  Wall, Age, Faces

  "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately, 2004.

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• I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom. Too many have died since I went to prison. Too many have suffered for the love of freedom. I owe it to their widows, to their orphans, to their mothers and their fathers, who have grieved and wept for them ..... Not only have I suffered during these long lonely wasted years. I am no less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell the birthright of the people to be free ....... Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

  Nelson Mandela

  Mother, Lonely, Father

  Nelson Mandela (2003). “Nelson Mandela: from freedom to the future : tributes and speeches”, Jonathan Ball Publishers

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• When I wrote my eighth thriller, Inside Out, in 2009, the villains were a group of CIA and other government officials who colluded to destroy a series of tapes depicting Americans torturing war-on-terror prisoners.

  Barry Eisler

  War, Government, Groups

  "Interrogators Speak Out: Why Not a Torture Turing Test?" by Barry Eisler, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 30, 2012.

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• We are prisoners of our own metaphors, metaphorically speaking.

  R. Buckminster Fuller

  Metaphor

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• You probably heard about the big prisoner swap with Cuba. A man who has been incarcerated in Havana for five years is back home in the United States. And we sent them some prisoners. The deal still has to be approved by President Obama and Bud Selig.

  David Letterman

  Home, Men, Years

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• President Obama has reduced the sentences of 22 federal prisoners who were arrested for drug-related crimes - eight of whom were serving life sentences. It marks the first time someone has said 'Thanks Obama' but actually meant it.

  Jimmy Fallon

  Eight, Drug, President

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• The moment the first American soldier sets foot on the Japanese mainland, all prisoners of war will be shot.

  Hideki Tojo

  War, Feet, Soldier

  Note signed by Tojo, left at a camp during the Bataan Death March, June 1945.

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• So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock And the guard will say to me, "Oh my patient prisoner you waited for this day and finally, you are free! You are free! You are free!

  Conor Oberst

  Keys, Waiting, Locks

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• As a prisoner of conscience committed to peaceful transition to democracy, I urge Europe to apply economic sanctions against Ethiopia. What short-term pain may result will be compensated by long-term gain. A pledge to re-engage energetically with a democratic Ethiopia would act as a catalyst for reform.

  Eskinder Nega

  Pain, Europe, Economic Sanctions

  "A prisoner of conscience's call for sanctions against Ethiopia" by Eskinder Nega, www.theguardian.com. September 6, 2013.

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• This is the woman who stopped the Stanford Prison Study. When I said it got out of control, I was the prison superintendent. I didn't know it was out of control. I was totally indifferent. She came down, saw that madhouse and said, "You know what, it's terrible what you're doing to those boys. They're not prisoners, they're not guards, they're boys, and you are responsible." And I ended the study the next day. The good news is I married her the next year.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Boys, Years, Next Day

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• There are several dozen political prisoners in Russia. When I cite that number people are often very surprised. They often think there are more. Well - there are hundreds of thousands of people who haven't had a fair trial, who are victims of the political system. But in the Amnesty International sense of the word, most of them are not political prisoners because they are not going to prison for protesting.

  Masha Gessen

  Thinking, People, Political

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• I find it weird that people who claim to speak for the prisoners basically want to keep them in cages all the time - and then they'll fight for better prison libraries or whatever. It's like they're missing the big picture. If I were in prison, of course I would prefer to be outside doing physical labour. It's not physical labour but prison life that kills a person. It's so bad inside that the outside jobs are often sought after. So, yeah, call them work crews and let them do it. At the same time the retributive side can feel the cons are being punished.

  Peter Moskos

  Fighting, People, Missing

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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• These 2.3 million prisoners, somehow we've convinced ourselves that's normal and rational, more prisoners than soldiers, more prisoners than China, more than one per cent of the adult population, seven times the incarceration rate of Canada or any Western European country.

  Peter Moskos

  Country, Soldier, Seven

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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• Whether we consider Nazi Germany or Abu Ghraib prison, there were many people who observed what was happening and said nothing. At Abu Ghraib, one photo shows two soldiers smiling before a pyramid of naked prisoners while a dozen other soldiers stand around watching passively. If you observe such abuses and don't say, "This is wrong! Stop it!" you give tacit approval to continue. You are part of the silent majority that makes evil deeds more acceptable.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Two, Pyramids, Evil

  "The Banality of Heroism" by Zeno Franco, Philip Zimbardo, greatergood.berkeley.edu. September 1, 2006.

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• I'm not a fan of the death penalty. At some level I think killing is wrong, but I don't have sympathy for most of the people sentenced - I'm not a passionate anti-death penalty person. In truth, given all the other problems of the justice system, the numbers are so small, I think there are bigger fish to fry. Ironically, in terms of mental health and care, death row is probably the best prison situation to be in. There's a little more public eye on that, to ensure at least minimal levels of official treatment are actually given to death row prisoners.

  Peter Moskos

  Eye, Thinking, Justice

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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• There's no straight line between closing the mental institutions and filling the prisons but there is some sort of relationship. And it's hard to tell how much mental illness among prisoners came in with them and how much is because of prison. I just imagine the real tragedy is there's probably a huge number of people who went in a little bit f - ked up and left completely insane because it's just a horrible treatment.

  Peter Moskos

  Real, People, Tragedy

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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• When I look back on it, I think, "Why didn't you stop the cruelty earlier?" To stand back was contrary to my upbringing and nature. When I stood back as a noninterfering experimental scientist, I was, in a sense, as drawn into the power of the situation as any prisoners and guards.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Thinking, Looks, Scientist

  "Finding Hope in Knowing the Universal Capacity for Evil " by Claudia Dreifus, www.nytimes.com. April 3, 2007.

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• Structures of which we are unaware hold us prisoner.

  Peter Senge

  Independence, Structure

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• I think that there are times when Puertoricans think, "Oh, we are blessed with the relationship with the U.S." But the end result will not be that. If Puerto Rico becomes similar to Hawaii - well, the Hawaiian Native population is about 9 percent. And if we go to the prisons, the overwhelming majority of the prisoners are the Natives. So I can anticipate that Puerto Ricans will not be better off by the annexation of the U.S. of Puerto Rico. I also know for a fact that once any nation or any people lose their identity, their language, their lifestyles, that they are a little dehumanized.

  Oscar Lopez Rivera

  Blessed, Thinking, People

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• I'm not a movie star like other actors in the way that I need to walk around with a bodyguard. My goal is just to get some interesting parts and make enough money to live free. Otherwise, to be a movie star, it's a lot of compromise and also a lot of headaches. You can't do what you want. You become a prisoner of your fame. This happened to me in France and I don't want it. I want to go to the terrace of a café, have a coffee. I have no problems with the fact that people recognize me, I'm very glad about it, but to be a movie star is kind of unreal for me.

  Olivier Martinez

  Coffee, Goal, Interesting

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• Always late: thus I make you the prisoner of my freedom.

  Mason Cooley

  Freedom, Lateness, Late

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• It is not the prisoners who need reformation, it is the prisons.

  Oscar Wilde

  Needs, Prison, Reformation

  Oscar Wilde, Isobel Murray (1999). “The Soul of Man, and Prison Writings”, p.164, Oxford University Press, USA

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• It is kindness that makes one strong and brave; and so we are kind to our prisoners.

  L. Frank Baum

  Strong, Kindness, Brave

  L. Frank Baum (2013). “Oz, the Complete Collection Volume 3 bind-up: The Patchwork Girl of Oz; Tik-Tok of Oz; The Scarecrow of Oz”, p.102, Simon and Schuster

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