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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.

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
Absolutes
Absolute
Ethics
Exist
Whether
Best
Without
Certainty
Way
Gods

More quotes by Richard Stallman

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I consider that the Golden Rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way.
Richard Stallman
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Programming is not a science. Programming is a craft.
Richard Stallman
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Giving the Linus Torvalds Award to the Free Software Foundation is a bit like giving the Han Solo Award to the Rebel Alliance.
Richard Stallman
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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.
Richard Stallman
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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!
Richard Stallman
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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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Also, because schools must teach the spirit of goodwill, the habit of helping others around you, every class should have this rule: students, if you bring software to class you may not keep it for yourself.
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.
Richard Stallman
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There is no system but GNU and Linux is one of it's kernels
Richard Stallman
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Android is a major step towards an ethical, user-controlled, free-software portable phone, but there is a long way to go.
Richard Stallman
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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.
Richard Stallman
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Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free.
Richard Stallman
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Sharing knowledge is the most fundamental act of friendship. Because it is a way you can give something without loosing something.
Richard Stallman
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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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I'm the last survivor of a dead culture. And I don't really belong in the world anymore. And in some ways I feel I ought to be dead.
Richard Stallman
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The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived even in part.
Richard Stallman
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The desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity.
Richard Stallman
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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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If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict the use of these programs.
Richard Stallman
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All governments should be pressured to correct their abuses of human rights.
Richard Stallman