As long as I am nothing but a ghost of the civil dead, I can do nothing.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about nothing
Quotes by Jack Henry Abbott
22 quotes by Jack Henry Abbott
Jack Henry Abbott - american author
Was born on 21 jan 1944.
Died on 02 feb 2002, at 58 years old.
Died on 02 feb 2002, at 58 years old.
Origin country: United States
At age nine I began serving long stints in juvenile detention quarters. At age twelve I was sent to the Utah State Industrial School For Boys... at age eighteen I was released as an adult.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison, age, olderness, school, state
Because there is something helpless and weak and innocent - something like an infant - deep inside us all that really suffers in ways we would never permit an insect to suffer.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about insects, suffering
How would you like to be forced all the days of your life to sit beside a stinking, stupid wino every morning at breakfast?
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about day, life
I am at this moment thirty-seven years old. Since aged twelve I have been free the sum total of nine and a half months.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about old, olderness, moment
I escaped one time. In 1971 I was in the free world for six weeks.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about world, time
I've wanted somehow to convey to you the sensations - the atmospheric pressure, you might say - of what it is to be seriously a long-term prisoner in an American prison.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison, americans
Imagine a thousand more such daily intrusions in your life, every hour and minute of every day, and you can grasp the source of this paranoia, this anger that could consume me at any moment if I lost control.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about anger, moment, day, life
My eyes, my brain seek out escape routes wherever I am sent.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about brain, eyes
Paranoia is an illness I contracted in institutions. It is not the reason for my sentences to reform school and prison. It is the effect, not the cause.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison, school, reason
So we can all hold up like good soldiers and harden ourselves in prison. But if you do that for too long, you lose yourself.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison, good, good luck
That is how prison is tearing me up inside. It hurts every day. Every day takes me further from my life.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison, day, life
The only serious crime I have ever committed in free society was bank robbery during the time I was a fugitive.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about bankers, crime, criminals, society, time
The other inmates stand in a long straight line, flanked by guards, and I am dragged past them. I do not respect them, because they will not run - will not try to escape.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison, past, respect
The part of me which wanders through my mind and never sees or feels actual objects, but which lives in and moves through my passions and my emotions, experiences this world as a horrible nightmare.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about nightmare, emotions, objects, mind, world
To be in prison so long, it's difficult to remember exactly what you did to get there.
Quote by Jack Henry Abbott about prison
