Top 66 Quotes & Sayings by Abbie Hoffman

There is a difference between being self-interested and being selfish. I will never be selfish.

Once you get the right image the details aren't that important.

Expedience, not justice, is the rule of contemporary American law.

You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.

Understand that legal and illegal are political, and often arbitrary, categorizations; use and abuse are medical, or clinical, distinctions.

Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire.

Never impose your language on people you wish to reach.

To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral.

We were young, we were foolish, we were arrogant, but we were right.

A modern revolutionary group heads for the television station.

The only way to support a revolution is to make your own.

Avoid all needle drugs, the only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon.

I will say this: In order for the planet to survive, there are going to be acts of ecoterrorism.

When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out.

The majority of people were always sitting in the stands. When I find people who are willing to go against the grain, who are willing to make tremendous sacrifices to change an unjust situation - that's what blows my mind out.

Become an internationalist and learn to respect all life. Make war on machines. And in particular the sterile machines of corporate death and the robots that guard them.

Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information.

Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.

I'm a nomad. A Jewish road warrior. I do not have a concept of home. I wish I did. But I live with the idea that we have to get out of town before dawn.

The '60s are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the rock and roll never as great.

I was probably the only revolutionary referred to as cute.

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.

I was a fugitive, taking risks with my life. I chose that. I chose to be a volunteer to go to Guatemala when they were having their earthquake, to help people with a team of doctors.

The key to organizing an alternative society is to organize people around what they can do, and more importantly, what they want to do.

Peace is a very complicated concept. When the lion gobbles up the lamb and wipes his lips, then there's peace. Well, I ain't for that peace at all.

The best way to educate oneself is to become part of the revolution.

It's too late. We can't win, they've gotten too powerful.

I think the greatest legacy of the 1960s was the general feeling that not only can you fight the powers that be, but you can win.

It is always the young that make the change. You don't get these ideas when you're middle-aged. Young people have daring, creativity, imagination and personal computers. Above all, what you have as young people that's vitally needed to make social change, is impatience. You want it to happen now. There have to be enough people that say, ‘We want it now, in our lifetime.’ This is your moment. This is your opportunity. Be adventurists in the sense of being bold and daring. Be opportunists and seize this opportunity, this moment in history, to go out and save our country. It's your turn now.

Every rock or molotov cocktail thrown should make a very obvious political point. Random violence produces random propaganda results. Why waste even a rock?

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. The second duty is to eat breakfast. I ain't going.

Action is the only reality; not only reality, but morality as well.

I learned one thing; you never do anything for fame or money. You only do things 'cause they're fun or good. If you can combine the two at the same time, you can make a contribution to the world and have a lot of happiness.

Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles.

There is absolutely no greater high than challenging the power structure as a nobody, giving it your all, and winning. I think I've learned that lesson twice now. The essence of successful revolution, be it for an individual, a community of individuals, or a nation, depends on accepting that challenge.

You are talking to a leftist. I believe in the redistribution of wealth and power in the world. I believe in universal hospital care for everyone. I believe that we should not have a single homeless person in the richest country in the world. And I believe that we should not have a C.I.A. that goes around overwhelming governments and assassinating political leaders, working for tight oligarchies around the world to protect the tight oligarchy here at home.

Usually when you ask somebody in college why they are there, they'll tell you it's to get an education. The truth of it is, they are there to get the degree so that they can get ahead in the rat race. Too many college radicals are two-timing punks. The only reason you should be in college is to destroy it.

Maintain a sense of humor. People who take themselves too seriously are power-crazy. If they win it will be haircuts for all. Beware of power freaks.

Nostalgia is a form of depression both for a society and an individual.

I think we are constantly faced with the same decision. The decision to be blindly obedient to authority versus the decision to try and change things by fighting the powers that be is always, throughout history, the only decision.

The first duty of a revolutionist is to get away with it. The second duty is to eat breakfast. I ain't going.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

My critique of democracy begins and ends with this point. Kids must be educated to disrespect authority or else democracy is a farce.

A modern revolutionary group heads for the television station, not the factory. It concentrates its energy on infiltrating and changing the image system.

Smoking dope and hanging up Che's picture is no more a commitment than drinking milk and collecting postage stamps.

In this state, dig it, you get twenty years for sale of dope to a minor. You only get five to ten for manslaughter. So like, the thing is, if you're selling to a kid and cops come, shoot the kid real quick!

There is absolutely no greater high than challenging the power structure as a nobody, giving it your all, and winning!

Smoking dope and hanging up Che's picture is no more a commitment than drinking milk and collecting postage stamps. A revolution in consciousness is an empty high without a revolution in the distribution of power. We are not interested in the greening of Amerika except for the grass that will cover its grave.

I was probably the only professed revolutionary ever referred to as "cute."

It's embarrassing when you try to overthrow the government and you wind up on the Best Seller's List.

Wouldn't you want to be indicted by the govenment for a high crime? It's a great thrill. It's an honor. It's a compliment. It's fun. I'm enjoying every minute of it!

What if when they called a war, no one went?

The idea that media is there to educate us, or to inform us, is ridiculous because that's about tenth or eleventh on their list.

If you don't have sex and you don't do drugs, your rock 'n' roll better be awfully good.

Life-actors never rehearse and need no script. A life-actor uses whatever he has available, nothing more, nothing less.

Fantasy is the only truth.

Hep is a very dangerous disease that can cause a number of permanent conditions, including death, which is extremely permanent.

I just want to do what has to be done so much. I'll never understand why everyone else doesn't feel this way.