War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men.

The criminal is quite frequently not equal to his deed: he belittles and slanders it.

Moral contempt is a far greater indignity and insult than any kind of crime.

Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner] ... I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause... for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.

The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other. They are worse than ever when, at the termination of their punishment, they return to society.

Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.