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Paying isn’t wrong, and being paid isn’t wrong. Trampling other people’s freedom and community is wrong, so the free software movement aims to put an end to it, at least in the area of software.

Richard Stallman

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Richard Stallman
Age: 71
Born: 1953
Born: March 16
Activist
Blogger
Computer Scientist
Engineer
Free Sofware Activist
Inventor
Programmer
Manhattan borough
New York City
Richard M. Stallman
rms
Richard Matthew Stallman
St. iGNUcius
Chief GNUisance
People
Paid
Movement
Trampling
Least
Aims
Community
Software
Wrong
Paying
Freedom
Area
Free
Aim
Ends
Areas

More quotes by Richard Stallman

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I never imagined that the Free Software Movement would spawn a watered-down alternative, the Open Source Movement, which would become so well-known that people would ask me questions about open source thinking that I work under that banner.
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There is no system but GNU and Linux is one of it's kernels
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It is hard to write a simple definition of something as varied as hacking, but I think what these activities have in common is playfulness, cleverness, and exploration. Thus, hacking means exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness. Activities that display playful cleverness have hack value.
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Open source is a development methodology free software is a social movement.
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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'.
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So, make a real effort to avoid getting sucked into all the expensive lifestyle habits of typical Americans. Because if you do that, then people with the money will dictate what you do with your life.
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Our mailing lists (and their repeater newsgroups) are only for the purpose of promoting proprietary software.
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Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air.
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The principal lesson of Emacs is that a language for extensions should not be a mere extension language. It should be a real programming language, designed for writing and maintaining substantial programs. Because people will want to do that!
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If ebooks mean that readers' freedom must either increase or decrease, we must demand the increase.
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Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.
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No person, no idea, and no religion deserves to be illegal to insult, not even the Church of Emacs.
Richard Stallman
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Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can.
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People sometimes ask me if it is a sin in the Church of Emacs to use vi. Using a free version of vi is not a sin it is a penance. So happy hacking.
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Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the results.
Richard Stallman
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If in my lifetime the problem of non-free software is solved, I could perhaps relax and write software again. But I might instead try to help deal with the world's larger problems. Standing up to an evil system is exhilarating, and now I have a taste for it.
Richard Stallman
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All governments should be pressured to correct their abuses of human rights.
Richard Stallman
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Anything that prevents you from being friendly, a good neighbour, is a terror tactic.
Richard Stallman
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To be able to choose between proprietary software packages is to be able to choose your master. Freedom means not having a master.
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Fighting patents one by one will never eliminate the danger of software patents, any more than swatting mosquitoes will eliminate malaria.
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