Terry Pratchett Quotes

Crime and punishment grow out of one stem.

Sins may be forgiven. Crimes require punishment.

It's better that the innocent should live than that the guilty die

We make no apology for people who should be in prison being in prison.

One threatens the innocent who spares the guilty.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

The law makes ten criminals where it restrains one.

I have no feelings for the criminal. All my feelings lie with the victim.

I prefer a prison full of criminals than a graveyard full of innocent people.

Goodness is to do good to the deserving and love the good and hate the wicked, and not to be eager to inflict punishment or take vengeance, but to be gracious and kindly and forgiving.

How long does it have to go on? This punishment? Haven't I done time enough, haven't I served my term? can't I apply for a-pardon?

Punishment closely follows guilt as its companion.

Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has had the freewill to select his course.

The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.

To spare the guilty is to injure the innocent.

Do not be merciful, but be just, for mercy is bestowed upon the guilty criminal, while Justice is all that the innocent man requires.

Rather leave the crime of the guilty unpunished than condemn the innocent.

The Christian - the biblical - concept of mercy toward wrongdoers only exists in relation to justice. Showing mercy, in relation to wrongdoing, means treating someone better than they deserve.

Blame is for God and small children.

They do injury to the good who spares the bad.

Just vengeance does not call for punishment.

You can't be sent away to prison for life and feel OK about it.

The crime and not the scaffold makes the shame.

The idea of right and wrong, being righteous, acknowledging when you make a mistake, repentance - all these important things I got from my Catholic background.

A murderer is regarded by the conventional world as something almost monstrous, but a murderer to himself is only an ordinary man. It is only if the murderer is a good man that he can be regarded as monstrous.