“Knackered inmates are easier to control than pumped-up ones. And dead inmates are even easier to control, if you follow me.”

“A nation of underachievers is easier to control than a society that excels.”

“A book is like a child: it is easier to bring it into the world than to control it when it is launched there.”

“Sometimes the world is so much sicker than the inmates of its institutions.”

“So are you an inmate or a rubbernecker?" she asks."Rubbernecker," I answer without hesitation. "You?""I'm a screw. Or on staff, anyway. Used to be an inmate. Repeat offender. Crimes against my body. Puking sickness followed by heroin, which led to more puking sickness." I'd be surprised at her forthrightness, but that's addicts for you. The twelve steps crack 'em open and then they can't shut up.”

“It is far easier for me to teach twenty what were right to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.”