The greatest crimes in the world are not committed against the body, but against the freedom of the consciousness.

O Liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name!

Any profession you engage in, no matter how profitable, unless it is truly helpful and good for others, is a crime against your soul, and the world.

Whatever crimes this man had committed, they weren’t as egregious as his inflated self-image.

Too much mercy… often resulted in further crimes which were fatal to innocent victims who need not have been victims if justice had been put first and mercy second.

When a man kills another man, the people say he is a murderer, but when the Emir kills him, the Emir is just. When a man robs a monastery, they say he is a thief,...

[Y]ou are not ashamed of your sin [in committing adultery] because so many men commit it. Man’s wickedness is now such that men are more ashamed of chastity than of lechery. Murderers, thieves, perjurers, false...

The best way to detect the destructive element in someone is to watch closely their behavioural pattern when given authority over poverty.

we are waiting and waiting and doing nothing, until it is too late, and they commit crimes so serious that all society wants to do is punish instead of rehabilitate.

So the difference between a criminal and a hero is the order in which their vile crimes are committed. And justice comes with a sell-by date. In that case, you’d better hurry. You wouldn’t want...

Crimes, like virtues, are their own rewards.

In the immediate nearness of the gold, all else had been forgotten […], and I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the treasure, find and board the Hispanola under cover of night,...

In it’s purest form, an act of retribution provides symmetry. The rendering payment of crimes against the innocent. But a danger on retaliation lies on the furthering cycle of violence. Still, it’s a risk that...

Pagans can be just as monstrous as any other group. They can be murderers, rapists, pedophiles. We need to accept that they are our problem and deal with them. We need to speak against their...

…that out of the quarrel with others we produce rhetoric, matter for the editorial page, while out of the quarrel with ourselves we create art.

Humanity is the word we use when we kill in the name of society.Humanity is the word we use to make them believe we can feel.Humanity is the word we use to cover up our...

I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle...

Instead of a criminal or a drug addict, I was looking at a boy—just a boy.

Saddam Hussein has been brutal against his people, but when he was committing those crimes, the international community did not come to the rescue of the Iraqis.

Don’t judge those, who are doing something bad, judge these, who told them do do that.

The affair seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful...

How can I blame others, when I cannot stop myself committing crimes?