Aaron Swartz Quotes

• What is the most important thing you could be working on in the world right now? ... And if you're not working on that, why aren't you?

  Aaron Swartz

  Motivational, Work, Important

  115 Copy quote

• Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.

  Aaron Swartz

  Information Is Power, Want, Information

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.26, The New Press

  76 Copy quote

• Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.

  Aaron Swartz

  Thinking, Alternatives, Way

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.22, The New Press

  68 Copy quote

• With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge - we'll make it a thing of the past.

  Aaron Swartz

  Strong, Knowledge, Past

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

  82 Copy quote

• There is no justice in following unjust laws.

  Aaron Swartz

  Law, Justice, Unjust

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

  66 Copy quote

• No, you can’t force other people to change. You can, however, change just about everything else. And usually, that’s enough.

  Aaron Swartz

  People, Enough, Force

  63 Copy quote

• Real education is about genuine understanding and the ability to figure things out on your own; not about making sure every 7th grader has memorized all the facts some bureaucrats have put in the 7th grade curriculum.

  Aaron Swartz

  Real, Understanding, Curriculum

  "The Real Problem With Waiting for 'Superman'" by Aaron Swartz, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 7, 2010.

  63 Copy quote

• Now everyone has a license to speak, it’s a question of who gets heard.

  Aaron Swartz

  Speak, Heard, License

  32 Copy quote

• I don’t want to be happy. I just want to change the world.

  Aaron Swartz

  World, Want, Changing The World

  32 Copy quote

• Creativity comes from applying things you learn in other fields to the field you work in.

  Aaron Swartz

  Creativity, Fields

  36 Copy quote

• Life is short ... so why waste it doing something dumb?

  Aaron Swartz

  Life Is Short, Dumb, Waste

  49 Copy quote

• There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.

  Aaron Swartz

  Light, Law, Justice

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

  38 Copy quote

• But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It’s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral - it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.

  Aaron Swartz

  Dark, Wealth Of Knowledge, Greed

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

  53 Copy quote

• We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks... With enough of us, around the world, we’ll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge - we’ll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us?

  Aaron Swartz

  Strong, Past, Secret

  "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto". Book by Aaron Swartz, July 2008.

  49 Copy quote

• As the Internet breaks down the last justifications for a professional class of politicians, it also builds up the tools for replacing them.

  Aaron Swartz

  Class, Tools, Lasts

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.188, The New Press

  44 Copy quote

• Books are totally useless unless you take their advice. If you just keep reading them, thinking "that's so insightful! that changes everything," but never actually doing anything different, then pretty quickly the feeling will wear off and you'll start searching for another book to fill the void.

  Aaron Swartz

  Inspirational, Funny, Book

  46 Copy quote

• The adults were completely wrong.

  Aaron Swartz

  Adults, Relatable

  33 Copy quote

• Reality is painful -- it's so much easier to keep doing stuff you know you're good at or else to pick something so hard there's no point at which it's obvious you're failing -- but it's impossible to get better without confronting it.

  Aaron Swartz

  Reality, Get Better, Stuff

  39 Copy quote

• But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world's entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the sciences? You'll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier.

  Aaron Swartz

  Book, Needs, Heritage

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.26, The New Press

  38 Copy quote

• Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.

  Aaron Swartz

  Greed, Copies, Refuse

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

  31 Copy quote

• Steadfastness is a noble quality, but unguided by knowledge or humility, it becomes rashness, or obstinacy.

  Aaron Swartz

  Humility, Understanding, Quality

  35 Copy quote

• What is "this drive"? It's the tendency to not simply accept things as they are but to want to think about them, to understand them. To not be content to simply feel sad but to ask what sadness means. To not just get a bus pass but to think about the economic reasons getting a bus pass makes sense. I call this tendency the intellectual.

  Aaron Swartz

  Sadness, Mean, Thinking

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.344, The New Press

  23 Copy quote

• Most people's major life changes don't come from reading an article in the newspaper; they come from reading longer-form essays or thoughtful books, which are much more convincing and detailed.

  Aaron Swartz

  Inspirational, Funny, Life Changing

  "I Hate the News" by Aaron Swartz, www.aaronsw.com. October 20, 2006.

  33 Copy quote

• Being around some of the bright lights of the technology world and having them expect great things helps you sit down and do it seriously.

  Aaron Swartz

  Technology, Light, World

  "Stars Rise at Startup Summer Camp" by Ryan Singel, www.wired.com. September 13, 2005.

  20 Copy quote

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