In prison, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.

Meaning of the quote

When someone is in prison, the things they are not allowed to have or do become the things they want the most. This is because when people are denied or prevented from having certain things, those things become even more desirable and important to them. The more the prisoner is prevented from having something, the more they will want it.

About Eldridge Cleaver

Eldridge Cleaver was an influential American writer and political activist who played a key role in the Black Panther Party. His essay collection ‘Soul on Ice’ was praised as ‘brilliant and revealing’, and he later became a prominent member of the Black Panthers before fleeing to exile and eventually returning to the US, where he joined various religious and political groups.

More about the author

More quotes from Eldridge Cleaver

I have taken an oath in my heart to oppose communism until the day I die.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

Too much agreement kills a chat.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

The Twist was a guided missile launched from the ghetto into the heart of suburbia. The Twist succeeded, as politics, religion and law could never do, in writing in the heart and soul what the Supreme Court could only write on the books.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

What America demands in her black champions is a brilliant, powerful body and a dull, bestial mind.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended a people’s safety and greatness.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

History could pass for a scarlet text, its jot and title graven red in human blood.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

I feel that I am a citizen of the American dream and that the revolutionary struggle of which I am a part is a struggle against the American nightmare.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

Respect commands itself and can neither be given nor withheld when it is due.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

You don’t have to teach people how to be human. You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

All the gods are dead except the god of war.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)

In prison, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all.

Eldridge Cleaver

American activist (1935-1998)