Ransom

Ransom

Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.

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Famous quotes containing the word ransom:

    In all the good Greek of Plato
    I lack my roastbeef and potato.

    A better man was Aristotle,
    Pulling steady on the bottle.
    —John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)

    But this was the old tree’s late branch wrenched away,
    Grieving the sapless limbs, the shorn and shaken.
    —John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)

    A real man doesn’t have to run from his mother, and may even have to face the reality that no great deed is going to be great enough for him to ransom himself completely, and he may always be in his mother’s debt. If he understands that . . . he won’t have to feel guilty, and he won’t have to please her completely. He can go ahead and be nice to her and let her be part of his life.
    Frank Pittman (20th century)