88 quotes
Hundreds of thousands of babies are born every day. While the whole phenomenon is menacing, one of them by itself is not newsworthy.
A hacker is someone who enjoys playful cleverness — not necessarily with computers.
What they had in common was mainly love of excellence and programming.
Interview in Hackers — Wizards of the Electronic Age (1985)
Medical marijuana grower and activist Steve McWilliams killed himself last June, rather than face 6 months in prison with no marijuana to relieve his chronic pain.
Any time I connect to a website other than Wikipedia, it's through Tor.
I see nothing unethical in the job it does. Why shouldn't you send a copy of some music to a friend?
Thus Spake Stallman (2000)
The fundamental difference between the two movements is in their values, their ways of looking at the world.
Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source (1998)
Every decision a person makes stems from the person's values and goals.
Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism (1998)
Spreading the idea of freedom is a big job — it needs your help.
Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source (1998)
Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air.
GNU Manifesto (1985)
People said I should accept the world. Bullshit! I don't accept the world.
Using GPL
is encroaching on our rights
to encroach on yours.
I always expect to lose. I fight anyway, and sometimes I win.
GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free to everyone who can use it.
GNU Manifesto (1985)
Writing non-free software is not an ethically legitimate activity, so if people who do this run into trouble, that's good! All businesses based on non-free software ought to fail, and the sooner the better.
There are tremendous actual differences in values. Some value systems, such as the ones that motivate "honor killings", deserve to be morally condemned and rejected. But there are many other variations in values within the bounds of decency.
The Zeitgeist Movement (2009)
As one person put it, "Open source is a development methodology; free software is a social movement."
Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source (1998)
When the goal is to help others as well as oneself, we call that idealism.
Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism (1998)
I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free.
GNU Manifesto (1985)
Nobody deserves to have to die — not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on people's computing.