“The law punishes the criminal after he has been successful: it is no use to us.”

—  John Wyndham , The Midwich Cuckoos

The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), ch 18 - p.182 [Eric]

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 18, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The law punishes the criminal after he has been successful: it is no use to us." by John Wyndham?
John Wyndham photo
John Wyndham 21
British author 1903–1969

Related quotes

Cesare Beccaria photo

“No man can be judged a criminal until he be found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection, until it have been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power, can authorise the punishment of a citizen, so long as there remains any doubt of his guilt? The dilemma is frequent. Either he is guilty, or not guilty. If guilty, he should only suffer the punishment ordained by the laws, and torture becomes useless, as his confession is unnecessary. If he be not guilty, you torture the innocent; for, in the eye of the law, every man is innocent, whose crime has not been proved.”

Cesare Beccaria book On Crimes and Punishments

On Crimes and Punishments (1764)

Chuck Grassley photo

“Unfortunately, throughout the housing crisis we’ve seen innocent homeowners who have been victims of shady mortgage lenders and unscrupulous individuals who have used a down market to line their own pockets at the expense of others. This bill is designed to send a message by revising our laws to ensure criminals are brought to justice and that law enforcement has the tools to uncover these fraudulent schemes and go after the bad actors. Criminals should be put on notice that ripping off homeowners and taxpayers won’t be tolerated.”

Chuck Grassley (1933) American politician

Quoted in "Congress Targets Mortgage Fraud: Justice for Victims, Jail for the Guilty," http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/3561/1/Congress-Targets-Mortgage-Fraud-Justice-for-Victims-Jail-for-the-Guilty Tri-State Defender (2009-02-12)

Barbara Kingsolver photo

“God doesn’t need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Voltaire photo

“Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.”

Voltaire Dictionnaire philosophique

Que les supplices des criminels soient utiles. Un homme pendu n’est bon à rien, et un homme condamné aux ouvrages publics sert encore la patrie, et est une leçon vivante.
"Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws," Dictionnaire philosophique (1785-1789)
The Dictionnaire philosophique was a posthumously published collection of articles combining the Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (published under various editions and titles from 1764 to 1777), the Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (published from 1770 to 1774), articles written for the Encyclopédie and the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, the manuscript known as l'Opinion sur l'alphabet and a number of previously published miscellaneous articles.
Citas

W. H. Auden photo

“The law cannot forgive, for the law has not been wronged, only broken; only persons can be wronged. The law can pardon, but it can only pardon what it has the power to punish.”

W. H. Auden book The Dyer's Hand

"The Prince's Dog", p. 201
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)

James Comey photo

“I am descended from Irish immigrants. A century ago, the Irish knew well how American society—and law enforcement—viewed them: as drunks, ruffians, and criminals. Law enforcement’s biased view of the Irish lives on in the nickname we still use for the vehicles we use to transport groups of prisoners. It is, after all, the “paddy wagon.””

James Comey (1960) American lawyer and the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

2010s, Hard Truths: Law Enforcement (2015)

Paulo Coelho photo

“It isn't the desire to abide by the law that makes everyone behave as society requires, but the fear of punishment. Each one of us carries a gallows inside us.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

Paulo Coelho photo

“If you're a nobody, if your work has no impact, then it deserves to be praised. If, however, you climb out of that state of mediocrity and are a success, then your defying 'the law' and deserve to be punished.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

Glenn Beck photo

“The Lord will always send a people wake-up calls. And he has been sending us wake-up call, after wake-up call, after a wake-up call. … He has been sending us wake-up calls, and you can send two kinds of wake-up calls. One through fear, like 9/11. 9/11 woke us up, and we stood shoulder-to-shoulder for a very short period of time.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

2010s, 2010

Earl Warren photo

“The abhorrence of society to the use of involuntary confessions does not turn alone on their inherent untrustworthiness. It also turns on the deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that, in the end, life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.”

Earl Warren (1891–1974) United States federal judge

Writing for the court, Spano v. New York 360 U.S. 321 (1959)
1950s

Related topics