I have a few concerns/edits: Instead of ‘U.S. government’s illegal spying operations,’ I’d propose ‘U.S. government’s controversial intelligence gathering’… I would replace ‘misuse of power’ with ‘actions.’

There’s no neutral position between democracy and authoritarianism.

If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. It’s as simple as that. If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, then the rest of our rights and liberties will topple just like dominoes. One by one, they’ll go down.

But I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human. And that is you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.

The greatest danger to our future is apathy.

To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up in, if I stood here maybe, maybe — just maybe — I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand. I’m not here, though, because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.

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.