⸸ Death Row Wisdom ⸸
Wisdom from deaths door
“Philosophical tirades have little value in their eyes and are a poor refuge
from suffering. Above all, it is absurd to claim that an act, which occurs so
often, is an unnatural act. Suicide is in no way unnatural, as we witness
it daily. What is contrary to nature does not occur. It lies, on the contrary,
in the nature of our society to cause so many suicides.”
– Karl Marx, 1846
“Suicide is only one among a thousand symptoms of the struggle of general social
struggle, which is always renewing itself… and which the individuals, tired of the
struggle, find it easier to leave. The man who kills himself is a protestor, an individual
who, no longer finding any place for himself in the world, decides to leave it.”
– Karl Marx, 1846
“I would not wish to a dog or to a snake, to the lowest and most misfortunate creature of the
earth—I would not wish to any of them what I have had to suffer for things that I am not guilty
of. But my conviction is that I have suffered for things that I am guilty of. I am suffering because
I am a radical and indeed I am a radical…If it had not been for these things, I might have lived
out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died, unmarked, unknown, a
failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life could
we hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man’s understanding of man as now we
do by accident. Our words—our lives—our pains—nothing!”
– Bartolomeo Vanzetti, 1927
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if
it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad.
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As
a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
– Abraham Lincoln, 1838
“Many die too late, and some die too early. Yet strange soundeth
the precept: ‘Die at the right time!’ My death, praise I unto you,
the voluntary death, which cometh unto me because I want it.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche, 1883
“Suicide is no crime against nature; indeed, it is a mark of the highest courage
when undertaken not in despair but for the sake of preserving dignity. The soul,
which is ours by nature, has the liberty to depart when life can no longer fulfill the laws
of reason. Why should we continue when all things conspire against a life lived nobly?”
– Cicero, 45 BC
“Capital punishment: them without the capital get the
punishment. Those with the capital get the mercy.”
– John Spenkelink, 1979
“The law and the religion of the rich are always ready to condemn the suicide,
but they are never ready to help the living. They wait until the victim has fallen,
and then they come with their scales and their crosses to weigh the guilt and
to bless the corpse. But where were they when the heart was breaking?”
– Karl Marx, 1846
“I’m never finished. I don’t think in those terms. I don’t think anyone should ever think
in those terms. If you think you’re finished, then you’re finished. And most people, when
they reach a certain age, they think, ‘Well, I’ve done this, I’ve done that.’ I have no
sympathy for people like that. So, go die…I’m so busy living. I don’t have time to
think about dying. When I die, I’ll be sad. Because I’ve got so much more to do.”
– Vince McMahon, 2022
“The Polunsky dungeon should be compared with the Death Row Community as existing
not living. Why do I say this, the Death Row is full of isolated hearts and suppressed minds.
We are filled with love looking for affection and a way to understand. I am a Death Row
resident of the Polunsky dungeon. Why does my heart ache. We want pleasure love and
satisfaction. The walls of darkness crushed in on me. Life without meaning is life without
purpose. But the solace within the Polunsky dungeon, the unforgiveness within society, the
church Pastors and Christians. It is terrifying. Does anyone care for who I am, can you feel
me people? The Polunsky dungeon is what I call the pit of hopelessness. The terrifying thing
is the US is the only civilized country that is free, that says it will stop murder, and enable
justice. I ask each of you to lift up your voices to demand an end to the Death Penalty.”
– Johnny Johnson, 2009
“What is going on here is just a lynching that is taking place. But they’re
going to keep on lynching us for the next 100 years, if you do not carry
on that tradition, and that period of resistance. We will prevail. We may lose
this battle, but we will win the war. This death, this lynching will be avenged.
It will be avenged, it must be avenged. The people must avenge this murder.”
– Gary Graham, 2000
“Only the sky and the green grass goes on forever and today is a good day to die.”
– David Martinez, 2005
“I wish you all would get together and go to hell. I hate the whole damned human race. I would
like to see every one of you exterminated. I wish that the human race had one neck so I could
choke it. I have no remorse, no conscience, no pity. I am glad of every crime I ever committed.
If I could live my life over again I would do the same things-only I would do them more thoroughly.”
– Carl Panzram, 1930
“To stay here and be tortured by the mercenaries of the
capitalist state is a reactionary suicide. To take our own lives
on our own terms is a revolutionary act of the highest order.”
– Jim Jones, 1978
“I have come here today to die, not make speeches.
Today is a good day for dying. Est Sularus Oth Mithas”
– Delbert Teague, 1998
“In Khmer we have a saying that when one is both quite
sick and old there remains only one thing, that you die.”
– Pol Pot, 1977
“You’re going to lose people by putting the country into a
massive recession or depression. You’re gonna lose people.
You’re gonna have suicides by the thousands.”
– Donald Trump, 2020
“Better to kill an innocent by mistake
than spare an enemy by mistake.”
– Pol Pot 1975
“He who protests is an enemy; he who opposes is a corpse.”
– Pol Pot 1976
“You can arrest someone by mistake; never release him by mistake.”
– Pol Pot 1977
“We will burn the old grass and the new will grow.”
– Pol Pot 1975
