"The criminal should be considered and pitied, not despised. He simply complies with the nature with which he came into the world, modified by the environment in which he has lived, the same as does every other being who breathes. You or I, with identical heredity and environment, would do identical deeds. Measured by his ability to do otherwise, the villain is not less divine than the humanitarian. Every creature acts out the impulses which arise in his own consciousness, and the will cannot create, but simply registers, those impulses. Punishment is one of the means possessed by society for its self-culture, and its administration should not be made an opportunity for pugilistic cocks to color their spurs."
React to this quote
More by J. Howard Moore
See allResonant Thoughts
"To suppose that God Almighty has confined his goodness to this world, to the exclusion of all others, is much similar to the idle fancies of some individuals in this world, that they, and those of the…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Certainly no one can be saved by the sacrifice of Christ from the trickeries and traps of the dark forces. …"
— Helena Roerich"He comes to help humanity see life realistically – not through rose-coloured spectacles of schemes of gambl…"
— Benjamin Creme"Without its assiduity to the ridiculous, would the human race have lasted more than a single generation?"
— Emil Cioran"TIPS! How people want tips! They crave not only to get them but to give them."
— Edwin Lefèvre"The sudden recent rise to prominence of cybernetics was due, immediately, to World War II. There existed th…"
— Frank Honywill George"The most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world, who argue from wha…"
— William Hazlitt
Related Thinkers
Related Topics
Deep Dives
- Baruch Spinoza on Human Nature
- Friedrich Nietzsche on Human Nature
- Thomas Carlyle on Human Nature
- Aristotle on Human Nature
- Immanuel Kant on Human Nature
- Ludwig Wittgenstein on human nature
- Michel de Montaigne on Human Nature
- Epictetus on Human Nature
- Baruch Spinoza on philosophy
- Baruch Spinoza on knowledge
- knowledge & Beauty
- knowledge & Change