Edward Snowden quotes

Edward Snowden is an American former intelligence contractor who exposed classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013. His disclosures revealed extensive global surveillance programs conducted by the U.S. government. He has become a prominent advocate for privacy rights and government transparency. Here are 92 of his quotes:

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

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

Arguing that you don't care about 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

My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.

Edward Snowden

Initially I was very encouraged. 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

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

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

A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that's a problem because privacy matters; privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.

Edward Snowden

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

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

When we've got these people who have practically limitless powers within a society, if they get a pass without so much as a slap on the wrist, what example does that set for the next group of officials that come into power? To push the lines a little bit further, a little bit further, a little bit further, and we'll realize that we're no longer citizens - we're subjects.

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

The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.

Edward Snowden

I would rather be without a state than without a voice.

Edward Snowden

I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.

Edward Snowden

I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is about being the first to act.

Edward Snowden

The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

Edward Snowden

I have had no contact with the Chinese government ... I only work with journalists.

Edward Snowden

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

Edward Snowden

Ultimately, if people lose their willingness to recognize that there are times in our history when legality becomes distinct from morality, we aren't just ceding control of our rights to the government, but our futures.

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