The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Theory of punishment6 quotes
Let the punishment match the offense. — Cicero · 43 BCMen are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750I say that there is no such thing as moral responsibility for past acts, no such thing as real justice in punishing them, for the reason that human beings are not stationary existences, but changing, growing, incessantly progressive organisms, which in no two moments are the same. Therefore justice, whose only possible mode of proceeding is to punish in present time for what is done in past time, must always punish a person more or less similar to, but never identical with, the one who committed the offence, and therein must be no justice. — Edward Bellamy · 1880Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCDoes capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Legal theory4 quotes
Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCDoes capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Criminal law3 quotes
Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750Does capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Law3 quotes
Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750Does capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Moral theory2 quotes
I say that there is no such thing as moral responsibility for past acts, no such thing as real justice in punishing them, for the reason that human beings are not stationary existences, but changing, growing, incessantly progressive organisms, which in no two moments are the same. Therefore justice, whose only possible mode of proceeding is to punish in present time for what is done in past time, must always punish a person more or less similar to, but never identical with, the one who committed the offence, and therein must be no justice. — Edward Bellamy · 1880Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCCapital punishment1 quote
Does capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Incentives1 quote
Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCPunishment1 quote
Let the punishment match the offense. — Cicero · 43 BC