Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)
Les objets extérieurs ont une action réelle sur le cerveau. Qui s’enferme entre quatre murs finit par perdre la faculté d’associer les idées et les mots. Que de prisonniers cellulaires devenus imbéciles, sinon fous, par le défaut d’exercice des facultés pensantes.
Source: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Ch. XXVI: The worst peril of all
“A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.”
Letter Accepting 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prizefrom (2018)
Voltaire (1916)
Context: Voltaire was not the first or last man to convert a prison into a hall of fame. A prison is confining to the body, but whether it affects the mind, depends entirely upon the mind.
It was while in prison that he changed his name from the one his father gave him — Arouet — to the one he has made famous throughout all time — Voltaire. He said, "I was very unlucky under my first name. I want to see if this one will succeed any better."
“Writing is one of the most solitary activities in the world.”
Source: The Zahir
“The world itself is but a larger prison, out of which some are daily selected for execution.”
Supposed to have been said by Raleigh to his friends as he was being taken to prison, on the day before his execution (William Stebbing Sir Walter Raleigh (1891), chapter 30)
Attributed
“The Bible is a window in this prison-world, through which we may look into eternity.”
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 29.
“I would prefer to remain in prison for another 20 years than bargain my beliefs for freedom.”
November 2004, speaking to a delegation from the Human Rights Committee of the Lebanese Parliament, quoted in "Samir Geagea will be out of Jail this weekend" in Ya Libnan (18 July 2005) http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2005/07/samir_geagea_wi.php
