Amanda Lindhout

Many, including the Canadian and U.S. governments, try to provide family support while also maintaining a hard line about further fuelling terrorism and hostage-taking through ransom payments ... Still, try telling that to a mother, or a father, or a husband or wife caught in the powerless agony of standing by.

Canadian Journalist

Demetri Martin

I think it would be cool if you were writing a ransom note on your computer, if the paper clip popped up and said, 'Looks like you're writing a ransom note. Need help? You should use more forceful language, you'll get more money.

American Comedian

Des Browne

Are we prepared to tolerate a world in which countries which care about morality lay down their nuclear weapons, leaving others to threaten the rest of the world or hold it to ransom?

British Politician

Abhijit Banerjee

Every nation necessarily inhabits a morally compromised space. All too often our ideals seem to be held to ransom by what we believe, rightly or wrongly, to be objective reality.

American Economist

Jane Goodall

In 1975, when my students were kidnapped by rebels, I was accused of hiding instead of trying to save them, and of not giving enough money for their ransom. I wasn't believed.

English Scientist

Mahatma Gandhi

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.

Indian Leader

Kanika Dhillon

I want to be a proud daughter of Punjab. Celebrate my roots - fly, flourish, write stories, characters. Don't hold me and my voice to ransom. Enable me, don't disable me!

Indian Author

Elliott Abrams

The ransoming of captives has been practiced by Jews for many centuries and has been regarded as a greater obligation than charity for the poor.

American Lawyer

Akshay Kumar

I do not hold God ransom to my success; whatever is his will is my way. I stand by moments; I do not stand by time.

Indian Actor

Lynsey Addario

In so many countries, Western journalists are viewed simply as dollar signs. We're ransom objects.

American Photographer

The term 'ransom' is mainly used in illegal or criminal circumstances involving hostages.

Crime Related

'Ransom' often implies a large amount of money and a tense, urgent situation.

High Stakes

The word 'ransom' usually has negative connotations, associating with fear and danger.

Negative Connotation

Ransoming someone often shows an act of desperation to get the individual back.

Act of Desperation

Ransoming can lead to financial difficulty due to the large sums demanded.

Financial Difficulty

In theology, 'ransom' is used metaphorically to represent salvation, not literal money.

Theological Concept

'Ransom' in a religious sense is about being freed from sin, not from physical captivity.

Spiritual Freedom

When used theologically, 'ransom' symbolizes a price paid for release, often not financial.

Metaphoric Usage

 from which plagiarism originates. Brain child snatchers sneak up on innocent papers and copy and paste them without citing any sources, putting quotation marks around direct quotes or changing a word. They've also been known to steal and hold particularly eloquent essays for ransom.

The punishable perils of...

 but he faced constant threats from the taliban so sombo's father he's still back in nuristan and he was kidnapped three times by taliban to be forced to take his daughters out of music school each time local elders paid a ransom to free him and her father kept joking as i hope

Portraits of Afghanistan...

 But in the last four years, I've gone through every extreme situation, from eating my own, and poisoning myself, because my camp got totally destroyed, and my toilet got mixed with my food, to getting held captive in Papua, and held for ransom, to losing my best friends,

She Summited Each...

 Days later, she negotiated the ransom of the French king and his army in exchange for an enormous sum of money and the surrender of the occupied port city. In spite of her success leading Egypt through this military crisis,

How a concubine became...

 split between its front and back, was suddenly gone. The commissioner investigated the scene but determined that a theft at a cheese shop was more pressing. Twelve ransom notes appeared over the following months

The strange history of...

 for behavior that may at first look abstract and mysterious. The monsters accept your ransom and swim back down to the depths for another thousand years. With the proper planning,

Can you solve the sea...

 The second thing that this generation needs to do is to create our institutions. They need to build these institutions such that we are never held to ransom again

Fred Swaniker: The...

 farmers voluntarily turned to the gods for help offering up a bloody ransom the important point for me is that it is a ritual it's not a normal meal like Oh

Exo-Cannibalism PIPE...

 and stop financing coal plants on top of new coal mines. It's not a ransom, not a trap. Just a friendly nudge. I'm only here to help.

How to Stop Banks from...

 forming two distinct ransom needle-sharp teeth pierced the skin on both sides