Richard Stallman

Computer Science American 1953 373 quotes

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)

The free software movement is about empowerment.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about progress.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about the future.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about a better world.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about justice.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about equality.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about peace.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about love.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about humanity.

Speech 2001

The free software movement is about life.

Speech 2001

Think of 'free' as in 'free speech', not as in 'free beer'.

Speech 1984

Free software is software that gives you the freedom to share and change it.

Essay 1985

The only way to make software development sustainable is to give its principal developers the freedom to share and change it.

GNU Manifesto 1985

Proprietary software is the golden calf of the software industry.

Interview 1992

I believe that all software should be free.

Letter 1983

The term 'open source' is an attempt to water down the free software movement.

Speech 1998

Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age.

Essay 1999

If you want to be an ethical hacker, you have to be a free software supporter.

Interview 2000

Sharing of software is essential to the computer community.

GNU Manifesto 1985

The GPL is designed to ensure that freedom is propagated.

Essay 1989