Quotes from Aaron Swartz


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Now, the typical way you make good things happen in Washington is you find a bunch of wealthy companies who agree with you.


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.


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.


We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file-sharing networks.


I'm not such a nuisance to the world, and the kick I get out of living can, I suppose, justify the impositions I make on it. But when life isn't so fun, well, then I start to wonder. What's the point of going on if it's just trouble for us both? My friends will miss me, I am told.


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.


I have developed my most meaningful relationships online. None of them live within driving distance. None of them are about my own age.


I first met Jimbo Wales, the face of Wikipedia, when he came to speak at Stanford.


Nearly 75,000 Demand Progress members have urged Congress to fix the Patriot Act.


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.


Say yes to everything.


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?


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.


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.


Computers will be able to do all the mundane tasks in our daily lives.


Senator Wyden continues to be the Senate's truest champion of an open Internet.


There's all sorts of stuff people want to publish anonymously.


Writing an encyclopedia is hard. To do anywhere near a decent job, you have to know a great deal of information about an incredibly wide variety of subjects. Writing so much text is difficult, but doing all the background research seems impossible.


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.


Big stories need human stakes.