John Perry Barlow Quotes

• You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.

  John Perry Barlow

• They seem to have forgotten that, and are back saying the only purpose of P2P networks is for illegal trading of owned goods. We claim part of the reason for P2P is for legal trading of what ought to be in public domain. And what is in public domain in many cases.

  John Perry Barlow

• The one thing that I know government is good for is countervailing against monopoly. It’s not great at that either, but it’s the only force I know that is fairly reliable.

  John Perry Barlow

• So I’m just waiting until one party or the other actually gets a moral compass and a backbone.

  John Perry Barlow

• Royalties are not how most writers or musicians make their living. Musicians by and large make a living with a relationship with an audience that is economically harnessed through performance and ticket sales.

  John Perry Barlow

• Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge.

  John Perry Barlow

• Most libertarians are worried about government but not worried about business. I think we need to be worrying about business in exactly the same way we are worrying about government.

  John Perry Barlow

• It didn’t matter what we did or where we did it as long as we were together. We knew we’d found what most people either pursue in years of futile search or dismiss as a fantasy at the outset: the missing half of ourselves. The real thing.

  John Perry Barlow

• In Cyberspace, the First Amendment is a local ordinance.

  John Perry Barlow

• If all ideas have to be bought, then you have an intellectually regressive system that will assure you have a highly knowledgeable elite and an ignorant mass.

  John Perry Barlow

• I’m still strongly opposed to antismoking laws, strongly opposed to any law that regulates personal behavior.

  John Perry Barlow

• I personally think intellectual property is an oxymoron. Physical objects have a completely different natural economy than intellectual goods. It’s a tricky thing to try to own something that remains in your possession even after you give it to many others.

  John Perry Barlow

• I mean I look forward to the day when I can be Republican again.

  John Perry Barlow

• I don’t know that I believe in the supernatural, but I do believe in miracles, and our time together was filled with the events of magical unlikelihood.

  John Perry Barlow

• Everyone seems to be playing well within the boundaries of his usual rule set. I have yet to hear anyone say something that seemed likely to mitigate the idiocy of this age.

  John Perry Barlow

• But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.

  John Perry Barlow

• But generally speaking, I felt to engage in the political process was to sully oneself to such a degree that whatever came out wasn’t worth the trouble put in.

  John Perry Barlow

• We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.

  John Perry Barlow

  Topics in Technology

• The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.

  John Perry Barlow

  Topics in Technology

• Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.

  John Perry Barlow

  Topics in Technology

John Perry Barlow (20)

Birth:	3rd October, 1947
Death:	7th February, 2018
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Activist, Essayist, Lyricist, Poet

About

John Perry Barlow was born in Cora, Wyoming, USA. He was an American poet, essayist, a cattle rancher and a cyberlibertarian political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Freedom of the Press Foundation. He graduated with high honors in comparative religion from Wesleyan University in 1969. He co-wrote (with Bob Weir) such songs such as "Cassidy", "Mexicali Blues" and "Black-Throated Wind". He also wrote one song, "The Devil I Know" with Vince Welnick. He wrote extensively for Wired magazine, as well as The New York Times, Nerve, and Communications of the ACM.

Related Authors

• Parker J. Palmer
• Robert McAfee Brown
• Elie Wiesel
• Miriam Beard
• Cherrie L Moraga
• Ernst Zündel
• Beverly LaHaye
• Angela Davis
• Medgar Evers
• Ariel Dorfman

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 16th January

Births

• 1943 - Ronnie Milsap
• 1935 - A. J. Foyt
• 1947 - Laura Schlessinger
• 1959 - Sade
• 1901 - Laura Riding

Deaths

• 1976 - Thomas Harrison
• 1950 - Gustav Krupp Von Bohlen Und Halbach
• 1985 - Robert Fitzgerald
• 1969 - Vernon Duke
• 2001 - Leonard Woodcock