Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
He mocks absurdly excessive sentencing that combines life terms and death penalties, highlighting legal contradictions.
In plain terms
He questions how someone can serve impossible sentences given by courts.
What can you take from it?
Extreme punishments reveal flaws in legal logic.

Where it applies

  • courtroom drama
  • legal reform
  • policy critique

Putting it to work

  • review sentencing
  • check consistency
  • avoid excess

Questions to consider

  • Does excessive punishment deter crime?
  • Is justice logical?

Another view

It dismisses the severity of actual crimes involved.

More from George Carlin

  1. So what if some civilian contractor from Oklahoma gets his head cut off in Iraq? Fuck him! If you don't want to get your head cut off, stay the fuck in Oklahom…

    Permalink to quote #53
  2. Another word you don't hear too often is dingleberries. You know, you never hear it on Meet the Press. I think it's because dingleberries is one of those words…

    Permalink to quote #55
  3. Cannibalism. Imagine that: chowing down on another human being. You gotta be all out of beef jerky, man. You gotta be really fucking hungry. But it happens, do…

    Permalink to quote #52

Related quotes

  1. The law which attempts a man's life [capital punishment] is impractical, unjust, inadmissible. It has never repressed crime-for a second crime is every day com…

    Donatien de SadeDonatien de Sade quote #1
  2. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

    HammurabiHammurabi quote #3
  3. It is often said that the accused should be given an immediate trial; that this and subsequent proceedings should not be hindered by delay; that the uncertaint…

    Clarence DarrowClarence Darrow quote #7