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“Man cannot exist without work, without legal, natural property. Depart from these conditions, and he becomes perverted and changed into a wild beast.”
― The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia with an introduction by Julius Bramont
― The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia with an introduction by Julius Bramont
“Why is it that a convict never saves his money? Well, not only is it difficult for him to keep it, but prison life is so miserable that a man, of his very nature, thirsts for freedom of action. His position in society makes him so irregular a being that the idea of swallowing up his capital in orgies, of intoxicating himself with revelry, seems to him quite natural if only he can procure himself one moment's forgetfulness.”
― The House of the Dead
― The House of the Dead
“One cannot judge of crime with ready-made opinions: its philosophy is a little more complicated than people think. It is acknowledged that neither convict prisons, nor the hulks, nor any system of hard labour ever reformed a criminal. These forms of chastisement only punish him and reassure society against the offences he might commit.”
― The House of the Dead
― The House of the Dead
“The big reason why folks leave a small town,' Rant used to say, 'is so they can moon over the idea of going back. And the reason they stay put is so they can moon about getting out.'
Rant meant that no one is happy, anywhere.”
― Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
Rant meant that no one is happy, anywhere.”
― Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
“Education has nothing whatever to do with moral deterioration; and if one must admit that it develops a resolute spirit among the people, that is far from being a defect.”
― The House of the Dead
― The House of the Dead
Miguel’s 2025 Year in Books
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