Top 25 Aaron Swartz Quotes

Words matter. These are the best Aaron Swartz Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.

Real education is about genuine understanding and the a

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
Social Security got passed because John D. Rockefeller was sick of having to take money out of his profits to pay for his workers’ pension funds. Why do that, when you can just let the government take money from the workers?
Aaron Swartz
Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.
Aaron Swartz
Even among those who I would not count as ‘friends,’ I have met many people online who have simply commented on my work or are interested by what I do.
Aaron Swartz
Computers will be able to do all the mundane tasks in our daily lives.
Aaron Swartz
Nearly 75,000 Demand Progress members have urged Congress to fix the Patriot Act.
Aaron Swartz
Now, the typical way you make good things happen in Washington is you find a bunch of wealthy companies who agree with you.
Aaron Swartz
There’s all sorts of stuff people want to publish anonymously.
Aaron Swartz
When I go to a library and I see the librarian at her desk reading, I’m afraid to interrupt her, even though she sits there specifically so that she may be interrupted, even though being interrupted for reasons like this by people like me is her very job.
Aaron Swartz
What if there was a library which held every book? Not every book on sale, or every important book, or even every book in English, but simply every book – a key part of our planet’s cultural legacy.
Aaron Swartz
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.
Aaron Swartz
I first met Jimbo Wales, the face of Wikipedia, when he came to speak at Stanford.
Aaron Swartz
We must erase bin Laden’s ugly legacy, not extend it: by ending the Patriot Act’s erosion of our civil liberties, we can protect the freedoms that make America worth fighting for.
Aaron Swartz
Now, as far as I know, nobody has ever put up the U.S.’s nuclear missiles on the Internet. I mean, it’s not something I’ve heard about.
Aaron Swartz
With the death of bin Laden, it’s finally time for Congress to bring back the pre-9-11 legal norm, before we decided it was okay to toss out our civil liberties if the ‘bad guys’ were scary enough.
Aaron Swartz
Normally, I just sit in my quiet little room and do the small things that bring me pleasures. I read my books, I answer email, I write a little bit.
Aaron Swartz
At the end of the day, we have an economy that works for the rich by cheating the poor, and unequal schools are the result of that, not the cause.
Aaron Swartz
Most people, it seems, stretch the truth to make themselves seem more impressive. I, it seems, stretch the truth to make myself look worse.
Aaron Swartz
Through the Internet, I’ve developed a strong social network – something I could never do if I had to keep my choice of peers within school grounds.
Aaron Swartz
We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file-sharing networks.
Aaron Swartz
Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it – their shareholders would revolt at anything less.
Aaron Swartz
Without the ability to talk about government power, there’s no way for citizens to make sure this power isn’t being misused.
Aaron Swartz
I was around computers from birth; we had one of the first Macs, which came out shortly before I was born, and my dad ran a company that wrote computer operating systems. I don’t think I have any particular technical skills; I just got a really large head start.
Aaron Swartz
Seriously, who really cares how long the Nile river is, or who was the first to discover cheese? How is memorizing that ever going to help anyone? Instead, we need to give kids projects that allow them to exercise their minds and discover things for themselves.
Aaron Swartz
The Open Access Movement has fought valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure their work is published on the Internet, under terms that allow anyone to access it.
Aaron Swartz