Man punishes the action, but God the intention.

—Thomas Fuller, 1732

I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.

—Gore Vidal, 1973

There is no crime without precedent. 

—Seneca the Younger, c. 60

The criminal is the creative artist; the detective only the critic.

—G.K. Chesterton, 1911

In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different from that of curing or educating.

—Michel Foucault, 1975

Our crime against criminals is that we treat them as villains.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1898

No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes.

—Hannah Arendt, 1963

After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.

—John Huston, 1950

The more religious a country is, the more crimes are committed in it.

—Napoleon Bonaparte, 1817

Two crimes undid me: a poem and a mistake. 

—Ovid, 10

The land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

—The Bible

Punishment is a sort of medicine.

—Aristotle, c. 340 BC

What man was ever content with one crime?

—Juvenal, c. 125

I’ve got some shit I’m conservative about and some shit I’m liberal about. Crime—I’m conservative. Prostitution—I’m liberal.

—Chris Rock, 2008

To live outside the law you must be honest.  

—Bob Dylan, 1966

A crowded police court docket is the surest sign that trade is brisk and money plenty.

—Mark Twain, 1872