Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

All you kiddies remember to lay off the needle drugs, the only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon.

— Abbie Hoffman

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!

— Abbie Hoffman

I feel like a famous Indian Chief of the Fagowee nations, who led his tribe for 40 years in the desert amidst starvation, hunger, famine, strife, plague — finally staggered up to the top of this mountain, drug crazed, looked out and pounded his chest and said, "Where the fuck are we? Where the fuck are we?"

— Abbie Hoffman

I only regret that I have but one shirt to give for my country.

— Abbie Hoffman

If this guy is God, then this is the God that the United States of America deserves.

— Abbie Hoffman

For six years, the only consistent thing about our national drug policy has been its inconsistency. Harsher penalties, urine testing, hysteria, budget cuts and the simplistic "Just Say No!' campaign (the equivalent of telling manic depressives to "just cheer up") have returned drug education and treatment to the Reefer Madness era.

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

I see Judaism as a way of life. Sticking up for the underdog. Being an outsider. A critic of society. The kid on the corner who says the emperor has no clothes on. The Prophet.

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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.

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

STRUCTURE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN CONTENT IN THE TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION. It is the same as saying "the medium is the message."

— Abbie Hoffman

THE KEY TO ORGANIZING AN ALTERNATIVE SOCIETY IS TO ORGANIZE PEOPLE AROUND WHAT THEY CAN DO AND MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT THEY WANT TO DO.

— Abbie Hoffman

You ask, "What about the innocent bystanders?" But we are in a time of revolution. If you are a bystander, you are not innocent.

— Abbie Hoffman

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

I think this is a pile of shit, while John Sinclair rots in prison.

— Abbie Hoffman

It's perhaps fitting that I write this introduction in jail.

— Abbie Hoffman

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.

— Abbie Hoffman

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.

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

Free speech is the right to shout "Theater!" in a crowded fire.

— Abbie Hoffman

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.

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman

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

— Abbie Hoffman