Richard Stallman
Founder of the free software movement and the GNU Project.
Most quoted
"Calling it 'intellectual property' is a propaganda term designed to confuse people into thinking that the various different laws that restrict what you can do with information are all one thing, and that they all have the same moral basis."
— from Various speeches
"I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the world a worse place."
— from The GNU Project
"My work on free software is motivated by an idealistic goal: spreading freedom and cooperation. I want to encourage free software to spread, replacing proprietary software that forbids cooperation, and thus make our society better."
— from Essays
All quotes by Richard Stallman (373)
I consider that my life's work is to make sure that there will be free software for all users.
Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free' as in 'free speech,' not as in 'free beer.'
If you're using a program that's not free software, you're living in a prison.
The most important freedom is the freedom to cooperate.
Sharing is good, and with digital technology, sharing is easy.
Proprietary software is an injustice.
The idea of 'intellectual property' is a pure distraction.
Copyleft is a general method for making a program free software and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free software as well.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price.
The purpose of the GNU Project is to give computer users freedom.
If you don't control the program, the program controls you.
The word 'open source' was coined to avoid the ethical issues of 'free software.'
I'm not anti-commercial. I'm anti-proprietary.
The internet is a wonderful tool, but it's also a tool for surveillance.
The only way to have security is to have free software.
Digital restrictions management is a system of tyranny.
The software you use should respect your freedom.
The user should be in control of the computer, not the other way around.
I am not a communist. I am a free software activist.
The GNU operating system is a complete free software system.
Contemporaries of Richard Stallman
Other Computer Sciences born within 50 years of Richard Stallman (1953).