Anthony Ray Hinton Quotes

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Anthony Ray Hinton

Profession : Author

Birth : June 1, 1956

They took my 30s, my 40s, my 50s, but what they couldn't take was my joy. I couldn't do nothing about the years, but I could control my joy... I kept a smile on my face; I kept love in my heart.

Anthony Ray Hinton

My mom was my mother and father. My father lost his mind when I was about 4 years old. And my mom did everything she could to make sure that we was brought up right.

Anthony Ray Hinton

The last time I saw my mom was in 1997. My mom started getting sick, and my mom finally passed away in 2002. My mom was my world. My mom was everything to me. We didn't have money. We didn't have a whole lot of materialistic things, but one thing I can truly say, that my mother loved me and all of her children unconditionally.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I'm really trying to bring an end to the death penalty because it means so much to me.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I have too much to live for to allow a bunch of cowards to take my joy. I refuse to give them my joy.

Anthony Ray Hinton

My only crime was being born black - or being born black in Alabama.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I hope that America will do away with the death penalty. I truly believe we are better than that.

Anthony Ray Hinton

Bitterness kills the soul.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I believe in laughter. I believe laughter is good for the soul. I believe in making other people laugh to make them feel good.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I cannot hate, because my Bible teaches me not to hate.

Anthony Ray Hinton

Henry Hays was cheated all his life. He was cheated by his father who taught him to hate. His community taught him to hate. My mom told me, no matter what one does in life, he or she deserves some compassion, and I knew Hays deserved compassion more than anybody.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I spent 30 years on Alabama's death row for a crime I did not commit.

Anthony Ray Hinton

It took me a little while to remember how to use a fork. You know, we don't use forks in the penitentiary. You get a spoon.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I've often thought books give you - put you in a world that you never thought you could go. And I often would say, I don't need to go to California. Give me a book that talks about California. And I can put it in my head and imagine what it looked like.

Anthony Ray Hinton

On September 22, 2002, my mama, Buhlar Hinton, died. When the guards told me, I gave up. She'd been deteriorating for a long time - I believe she died of a broken heart.

Anthony Ray Hinton

When you're poor and black in America, you stand a greater chance of going to prison for something you didn't do.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I loved to read books in the free world, and there was a lot of time to sit around and do nothing in prison. When you read, it opens up your mind; it helped us take our minds away from where we were.

Anthony Ray Hinton

Black, poor, without a father most of my life, one of 10 children - it was actually pretty amazing I had made it to the age of 29 without a noose around my neck.

Anthony Ray Hinton

I went to Paris, I went to France, I went to England, I went to Ireland. In my mind, I can go wherever I wanted to go. I left death row every day.

Anthony Ray Hinton

Being on death row has taken so much from me as a human being.

Anthony Ray Hinton