I don’t see myself as a hero, because what I’m doing is self-interested; I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no privacy and, therefore, no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.

In the past, human progress had to come at the cost of the environment. If we wanted energy, we had to burn wood or we had to burn fossil fuels. If we wanted to grow more food, we had to expand farmland, often at the cost of forests. But technology and innovation means we're very quickly decoupling these impacts, such that this conflict is no longer true.

I am here today because I believe Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy.

As for the notion of standing on your own, it’s no longer considered honorable or desirable. It makes you suspect, if not ridiculous.

It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. ... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less

A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.

I'm still fucking here

Effective leaders must be truth seekers, and that requires a willingness to understand truths other than our own.

It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.