Edward Snowden

There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency.

— Edward Snowden

I have been a systems engineer, systems administrator, a senior adviser for the Central Intelligence Agency, a solutions consultant and a telecommunications information systems officer.

— Edward Snowden

That's the beauty of the Internet is that we're no longer tied to our communities by physical connections.

— Edward Snowden

I think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal.

— Edward Snowden

You can't come up against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and not accept the risk. If they want to get you, over time they will.

— Edward Snowden

There have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal. Sometimes to do the right thing you have to break the law.

— Edward Snowden

Politics: the art of convincing decent people to forget the lesser of two evils is also evil.

— Edward Snowden

I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous.

— Edward Snowden

All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.

— Edward Snowden

If I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.

— Edward Snowden

Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American

— Edward Snowden

This country is worth dying for.

— Edward Snowden

Seeing someone in the position of James Clapper - the Director of National Intelligence - baldly lying to the public without repercussion is the evidence of a subverted democracy. The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed.

— Edward Snowden

Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history.

— Edward Snowden

Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.

— Edward Snowden

I don't want to live in a world where everything that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship is recorded.

— Edward Snowden

The government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression.

— Edward Snowden

The true measurement of a person's worth isn't what they say they believe in, but what they do in defense of those beliefs. If you're not acting on your beliefs, then they probably aren't real.

— Edward Snowden

It is we who infuse life with meaning through our actions and the stories we create with them.

— Edward Snowden

And history also shows that seemingly ordinary people who are sufficiently resolute about justice can triumph over the most formidable adversaries.

— Edward Snowden

I don’t work with people. I don’t recruit agents. What I do is I put systems to work for the United States. And I’ve done that at all levels from — from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top.

— Edward Snowden

Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

— Edward Snowden

Saying that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say. It’s a deeply anti social principle because rights are not just individual, they’re collective, and what may not have value to you today may have value to an entire population, an entire people, an entire way of life tomorrow. And if you don’t stand up for it, then who will?

— Edward Snowden

Abandoning open society for fear of terrorism is the only way to be defeated by it.

— Edward Snowden

Privacy is the right to a free mind.

— Edward Snowden

The NSA has the greatest surveillance capabilities that we've ever seen in history. Now, what they will argue, is that they don't use this for nefarious purposes against American citizens. In some ways, that's true but the real problem is that they're using these capabilities to make us vulnerable to them and then saying, 'well I have a gun pointed at your head. I'm not going to pull the trigger. Trust me.'

— Edward Snowden

there are no heroes, just heroic decisions

— Edward Snowden

You shouldn't change your behavior because a government agency somewhere is doing the wrong thing. If we sacrifice our values because we're afraid, we don't care very much about those values.

— Edward Snowden

Every person remembers some moment in their life where they witnessed some injustice, big or small, and looked away because the consequences of intervening seemed too intimidating. But there's a limit to the amount of incivility and inequality and inhumanity that each individual can tolerate. I crossed that line. And I'm no longer alone.

— Edward Snowden

There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency.

— Edward Snowden

Being a patriot doesn't mean prioritizing service to government above all else. Being a patriot means knowing when to protect your country, knowing when to protect your Constitution, knowing when to protect your countrymen, from the violations of and encroachments of adversaries. And those adversaries don't have to be foreign countries.

— Edward Snowden

You can't come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk.

— Edward Snowden

You shouldn't change your behavior because a government agency somewhere is doing the wrong thing. If we sacrifice our values because we're afraid, we don't care very much about those values.

— Edward Snowden