Quotes from Stephen Richards

How you see the world is a reflection of what is within you.

That high pitch scream emitted by Rose made me wince! Her ear bursting howls would stun me into silence as much as it silenced the eldest child in their home, eight-year-old Anna-Marie.

Sometimes a choppy wave would swamp me, and after I rose gasping I would vomit the foul-tasting water, wiping the sea from my eyes and nostrils. Then I regained my posture to do battle, again with the Solent.

I could see the reflection of the moon on the water's surface, tantalisingly teasing me forward, that was my target … swimming towards the moon and freedom. I could smell the brine and sense the power of the mass I was in, it engulfed me, yet I was one with it.

If you can't get your head around facts then stick with all the possibilities fiction gives.

One lesson I learned from all of this, and that was a hard one, for all of the good I did people, it was never remembered. I was the one doing jail, not them. Apart from a small circle of close loyal friends, I was and am on my own.

Although I was in the cold water and my teeth were chattering, I could feel perspiration running down my forehead as visions of failure swan around in my head. Although I was not the first, I felt that I was the first and would celebrate when I'd accomplished my goal. My focus was on reaching the other side of the Solent.

Although my swimming stroke became powerful, I wrestled with the waves and I considered that if I were on the same path of the ferry then I'd be sucked under by the boat and be drowned. The sea was insistent in the direction I swam, washed onwards and there was not a sight or sound of any boats or shipping.

You are born, you live and then you die. But when you forgive you are free to live again!

In January 1995 three prisoners, two category 'A' prisoners and a lifer escaped from Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. After four days of freedom they were recaptured. My length of freedom far surpassed theirs.

Just as the universe is in constant flux, so too are we in constant change, and we must accept that.

I've been an inmate in Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth. I was one of 'them'. I was once Britain's most unstable madman! This book is a complete one off! If you're a nervous type of reader then don't read it. You've been warned! You are now entering the world of insanity; please keep hold of your sanity until the book comes to a stop!

Rank and status do not represent power when surrounded by negativity.

Giving materialistically is the soft option, but when you give from what you do for others then your reward is immeasurable contentment.

Cooking is great, but the meal that has been prepared for you with love is the best.

Love does not cost a thing, but it is priceless...

The most valuable gift you can receive is an honest friend.

When we make friends then we change from being animals to being human.

Friendship gives us the strength to turn from lambs into lions.

When you're alone is when you can count your friends.

Your attitudes towards others affect what you think about yourself.

Abundance does not come in packages, it comes from the happiness within.

Serenity within the chaos of life is there to be discovered, just look within yourself for it.

Sometimes only when opportunity stops banging to be let in do we notice its absence!