Abbie Hoffman quotes

Abbie Hoffman was an American social and political activist, famous for his role in the counterculture movement of the 1960s. A co-founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies), he championed civil rights and anti-war causes. He became known for his theatrical protests and passionate advocacy for social change. Here are 64 of his quotes:

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

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

Abbie Hoffman

Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.

Abbie Hoffman

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.

Abbie Hoffman

I was probably the only revolutionary referred to as cute.

Abbie Hoffman

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

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

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

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

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

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

Abbie Hoffman

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

Abbie Hoffman

It's ridiculous to talk about a revolution without a few words on guns. If you haven't been in the army or done some hunting, you probably have a built in fear against guns that can only be overcome by familiarizing yourself with them.

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

WOODSTOCK NATION is built on ELECTRICITY. It is our energy, music, politics, school, religion, play, battleground and our sensuality. I hesitate only in using the word Morality, for Morality means soul and ELECTRICITY lack soul but so too does the wood pen I scratch against the yellow pad. Morality rests in God's imagination and if we see ourselves as gods I guess we alone make those choices. Moral decisions never rest in our tools, be they electricity or pencils, flowers, or guns.

Abbie Hoffman

Amerika is just another Latin dictatorship. Those who have doubts should try the minimal experience of organizing a large rock festival in their state, sleeping on some beach in the summer or wearing a flag shirt. Ask the blacks what it's been like living under racism and you'll get a taste of the future we face. As the repression increases so will the underground - deadly groups of stoned revolutionaries sneaking around at night and balling all day.

Abbie Hoffman