Lawrence Lessig

I'm a lawyer. I make lawyers for a living.

— Lawrence Lessig

Overregulation corrupts citizens and weakens the rule of law.

— Lawrence Lessig

Money corrupts the process of reasoning.

— Lawrence Lessig

We ought to be respecting the principle of equality.

— Lawrence Lessig

We always build on the past; the past always tries to stop us.

— Lawrence Lessig

Every generation welcomes the pirates from the last.

— Lawrence Lessig

Code plus law is combining to reduce rights consumers used to have.

— Lawrence Lessig

Freedom is about stopping the past.

— Lawrence Lessig

When government disappears, it's not as if paradise will take its place. When governments are gone, other interests will take their place.

— Lawrence Lessig

Legislation needs a better reason than that lawyers like it, and that America does it.

— Lawrence Lessig

The popular choice, by more than 2 million votes, is a completely qualified candidate for president.

— Lawrence Lessig

Some may not like the Constitution's requirements, but that doesn't make the Constitution a pirate's charter.

— Lawrence Lessig

Why should it be that just when technology is most encouraging of creativity, the law should be most restrictive?

— Lawrence Lessig

Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again.

— Lawrence Lessig

Winner take all does not exist in the Constitution. It's a restriction imposed on the electors by the states.

— Lawrence Lessig

Technology means you can now do amazing things easily; but you couldn't easily do them legally.

— Lawrence Lessig

“In the 1970s, 3 percent of retiring members became lobbyists. Thirty years later, that number has increased by an order of magnitude.…

— Lawrence Lessig

My claim is that we should focus on the values of liberty... If there is not government to insist on those values,…

— Lawrence Lessig

[Conservatives] go to church, they do lots of things for free for each other. They hold potluck dinners. ... They serve food…

— Lawrence Lessig

In a time of polarized politics there's one thing that more than ninety percent of Americans agree on, that our government is…

— Lawrence Lessig

If the Internet teaches us anything, it is that great value comes from leaving core resources in a commons, where they're free…

— Lawrence Lessig

While the creative works from the 16th century can still be accessed and used by others, the data in some software programs…

— Lawrence Lessig

I am a big supporter of experiments to complement representative gov't with randomly selected representative bodies of citizens, sure. I think most…

— Lawrence Lessig

A time is marked not so much by ideas that are argued about as by ideas that are taken for granted. The…

— Lawrence Lessig

But, like all metaphoric wars, the copyright wars are not actual conflicts of survival. Or at least, they are not conflicts for…

— Lawrence Lessig

I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence,…

— Lawrence Lessig

There is a regulation of behavior on the Internet and in cyberspace, but that regulation is imposed primarily through code. The differences…

— Lawrence Lessig

There are very few people in our society who are actually free to say what they believe. I am in an extremely…

— Lawrence Lessig

There are a lot of people who say we need to cut the amount of money that's spent in politics. I'm not…

— Lawrence Lessig

The legal system doesn't work. Or more accurately, it doesn't work for anyone except those with the most resources. Not because the…

— Lawrence Lessig

While the creative works from the 16th century can still be accessed and used by others, the data in some software programs…

— Lawrence Lessig

A free culture is not a culture without property; it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture…

— Lawrence Lessig

“Economics itself offers a parallel that explains why this integration affects creativity. Clay Christensen has written about the “Innovator’s Dilemma”: the fact…

— Lawrence Lessig

I find focusing clearly on the problem is the first step to seeing a solution. The problem is (a) the insane amount…

— Lawrence Lessig

“That tradition is the way our culture gets made. As I explain in the pages that follow, we come from a tradition…

— Lawrence Lessig

A free culture supports and protects creators and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual property rights. But it does so…

— Lawrence Lessig

Monopolies are not justified by theory; they should be permitted only when justified by facts. If there is no solid basis for…

— Lawrence Lessig

“If “piracy” means using value from someone else’s creative property without permission from that creator–as it is increasingly described today – then…

— Lawrence Lessig

“But sometimes they're just oblivious, and their obliviousness brings out the worst in me. I remember once talking to one about the…

— Lawrence Lessig

The popular choice is not elected as president.

— Lawrence Lessig