Imprisonment Quotes

In my mind I'm a blind man doin' time.

I was first imprisoned in Pretoria, and then, thereafter, I was taken to Robben Island. I stayed there for a couple of weeks. I was taken back to Pretoria when I was charged in the Rivonia trial, when I was then sent to Robben Island for life.

In satyagraha, a courted imprisonment carries its own praise.

I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky.

Jail is no place for a young fellow. There's no advancement.

I was happy to be with my parents. I didn't see very much of them, so I was very happy when my father was there and out of jail.

It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

A jailer is as much a prisoner as his prisoner.

I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.

For us there is only one season, the season of sorrow. The very sun and moon seem taken from us. Outside, the day may be blue and gold, but the light that creeps down through the thickly-muffled glass of the small iron-barred window beneath which one sits is grey and niggard. It is always twilight in one's cell, as it is always twilight in one's heart. And in the sphere of thought, no less than in the sphere of time, motion is no more.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

Life in the pen ain't for me 'cos I'd rather die.

Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa's leading organization - and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

This great purple butterfly,In the prison of my hands,Has a learning in his eyeNot a poor fool understands.

Liberty is a dearly bought commodity and prisons are factories where it is manufactured.