Glenn Greenwald quotes - page 3

Nobody really even knows with whom the US is at war, or where. Everyone just knows that it is vital that it continue in unlimited form indefinitely. (Glenn Greenwald)
The War on Terror has been and continues to be, above all, a war on the most basic liberties and political safeguards that we're all taught are what distinguishes the US and keeps it free. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
When poor and ordinary Americans who commit crimes are prosecuted and imprisoned, that is Justice. When the same thing is done to Washington elites, that is Ugly Retribution. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
A president who is burdened with a failed and unpopular war, and who has lost the trust of the country, simply can no longer govern. He is destined to become as much a failure as his war. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
The same president who has insisted that core moralism drives him has brought America to its lowest moral standing in history. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Beyond all the other reasons not to do it, free speech assaults always backfire: they transform bigots into martyrs. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
It is always unconscionable for the government to punish people for expressing an idea merely because government officials - or the majority of citizens - decide that those ideas are 'dangerous' or 'wrong.' That is a power nobody ought to possess. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Significant and seemingly impossible social and political change happens more often than we think, and it happens more rapidly than we realize. Even the most momentous change is always possible if one finds the right way to make it happen. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Many of the most important stories in the history of modern journalism have come from sources who have taken information without authorization. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
I've always thought stability was suffocating and deadly. Like, when I read that the kids I went to law school with have stayed at the same firm, I feel like I'm reading an obituary. How much money do you need? Six million, seven million? Put that in the bank and do something else. Get out! View quote
Glenn Greenwald
In essence, I see the value of journalism as resting in a twofold mission: informing the public of accurate and vital information, and its unique ability to provide a truly adversarial check on those in power. (Glenn Greenwald)
Who cares if virtually the entire world views Obama's drone attacks as unjustified and wrong? Who cares if the Muslim world continues to seethe with anti-American animus as a result of this aggression? Empires do what they want. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
But it is human beings collectively, not a small number of elites working in secret, who can decide what kind of world we want to live in. Promoting the human capacity to reason and make decisions: that is the purpose of whistle-blowing, of activism, of political journalism. And that's what is happening now, thanks to the revelations brought about by Edward Snowden. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Everything the New York Times so proudly reported last night has been known for weeks, and was already reported in great detail, using extensive evidence, by a large number of people... View quote
Glenn Greenwald
The Obama administration says we only destroy the privacy of non-Americans. That is not true. The government is spying on Americans. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Very few people use landline phones for much of anything. So when you talk about things like online chat and social media messages and emails, what you're really talking about is the full extent of human communication. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Surveillance breeds conformity. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
My nature is that when I see abuses of power, I want to expose those abuses. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
There are different ways that kids who are gay take on the rejection and alienation they feel. The way I dealt with it was to say, 'You know what? You're imposing judgments on me and condemnations, but I don't accept them. I'm going to instead turn the light on you and see what your flaws are and impose the same judgmental standards on you.' View quote
Glenn Greenwald
It's hardly news that the Obama administration is intensely and, in many respects, unprecedentedly hostile toward the news-gathering process. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
Government and businesses cannot function without enormous amounts of data, and many people have to have access to that data. (Glenn Greenwald)
You can't have a pristine house with ten dogs, and I'd rather have the ten dogs. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
The most extremist power any political leader can assert is the power to target his own citizens for execution without any charges or due process, far from any battlefield. The Obama administration has not only asserted exactly that power in theory, but has exercised it in practice. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
The most important thing my grandfather taught me was that the most noble way to use your skills, intellect and energy is to defend the marginalized against those with the greatest power - and that the resulting animosity from those in power is a badge of honor. View quote
Glenn Greenwald
The highest compliment one can give a writer is not to say that one wholeheartedly agrees with his observations, but that he provoked - really, forced - difficult thinking about consequential matters and internal questioning of one's own assumptions, often without quick or clear resolution. View quote
Glenn Greenwald