Richard Stallman Quotes

There are a few dogmas and double standards and really regrettable exports from philosophy that have confounded the thinking of scientists on the subject of morality.

Why is freedom such a hard sell? That's the question. In this country, why has the idea of individual liberty and responsibility become such a hard sell? That's something I never thought would happen here.

It makes me angry when people insist that I have a responsibility to do what they think I should do.

Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life. ... There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities; but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation.

With freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk has not ended yet.

No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it.

You've just got to do what you think is right, and just make the decisions based upon noble causes. And a noble cause is peace and security and freedom.

It is the responsibility of every human to know their actions and the consequences of their actions and to ask questions and to question things when they are wrong.

I want freedom and I realize that the only way to get it is to quit breaking the law.

It's because I work in ethics, and, more specifically, applied ethics, that I think it's important that if you have things to say that you think are right and you think could make the world a better place, it's important that many people read about them.

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.

In ethics, we don't make progress by discovering pre-existent truths; we do so by solving problems.

I think of Martin Luther King phrase a lot when I'm deciding public issues. He said: "Here I stand: I can do no other." It is basically an affirmation of my ultimate responsibility to obey my conscience in my acts as a public official.

I think that nothing is so important for freedom as recognizing in the law each individual’s natural right to property, and giving individuals a sense that they own something that they’re responsible for, that they have control over, and that they can dispose of.

To be moral involves taking a position towards that matrix, thinking critically about what is taken for granted.

To renounce freedom is to renounce one's humanity, one's rights as a man and equally one's duties.

What work do I have to do then?" said Will, but went on at once, "No, on second thought, don't tell me. I shall decide what I do. If you say my work is fighting, or healing, or exploring, or whatever you might say, I'll always be thinking about it. And if I do end up doing that, I'll be resentful because it'll feel as if I didn't have a choice, and if I don't do it, I'll feel guilty because I should. Whatever I do, I will choose it, no one else.

A person should be free to do as he likes in his own concerns; but he ought not to be free to do as he likes in acting for another, under the pretext that the affairs of the other are his own affairs.

The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.

I think of the need for more wisdom in the world, to deal with the knowledge that we have. At one time we had wisdom, but little knowledge. Now we have a great deal of knowledge, but do we have enough wisdom to deal with that knowledge?

I do hope that young men and women will start to think for themselves and start to take responsibility for their own thoughts.

Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.

There are multitudes of persons whose idea of liberty is the right to do what they please, instead of the right of doing that which is lawful and best.

A good person is one who follows the Ten Commandments and the golden rule. There is plenty of precedent in history to guide us and we probably evolved to be sensitive to Bible-Golden Rule situations. But the dilemmas faced by a worker - a journalist, an architect, an auditor - or by a citizen (what position to take on stem cell research, whether to run for office, what is the proper balance between taxation and social nets) - are not questions that can be answered by traditional texts or precedents.

No man can always be right. So the struggle is to do one's best, to keep the brain and conscience clear, never be swayed by unworthy motives or inconsequential reasons, but to strive to unearth the basic factors involved, then do one's duty.