Abbie Hoffman Quotes & Sayings

Understand that legal and illegal are political, and often arbitrary, categorizations; use and abuse are medical, or clinical, distinctions. — Abbie Hoffman

The key to organizing an alternative society is to organize people around what they can do, and more importantly, what they want to do. — Abbie Hoffman

Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles. — Abbie Hoffman

MR. WEINGLASS: Between the date of your birth, November 30, 1936, and May 1, 1960, what if anything occurred in your life?
HOFFMAN: Nothing. I believe it is called an American education.
-from the Chicago 7 trial — Abbie Hoffman

I learned one thing; you never do anything for fame or money. You only do things 'cause they're fun or good. If you can combine the two at the same time, you can make a contribution to the world and have a lot of happiness. — Abbie Hoffman

It's going to be a combination Scopes trial, revolution in the streets, Woodstock Festival and People's Park, all rolled into one. — Abbie Hoffman

You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists. — Abbie Hoffman

The only way to support a revolution is to make your own. — Abbie Hoffman

Once you get the right image the details aren't that important. — Abbie Hoffman

Wouldn't you want to be indicted by the govenment for a high crime? It's a great thrill. It's an honor. It's a compliment. It's fun. I'm enjoying every minute of it! — Abbie Hoffman

The idea that media is there to educate us, or to inform us, is ridiculous because that's about tenth or eleventh on their list. — Abbie Hoffman

Random political acts produce random political results. Why waste even a rock? — Abbie Hoffman

It's embarrassing ... you try to overthrow the government and you wind up on the Best Seller's List. — Abbie Hoffman

Every rock or molotov cocktail thrown should make a very obvious political point. Random violence produces random propaganda results. Why waste even a rock? — Abbie Hoffman

Sacred Cows make the BEST Hamburger — Abbie Hoffman

The 60's are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the rock and roll never as great. — Abbie Hoffman

Become an internationalist and learn to respect all life. Make war on machines. And in particular the sterile machines of corporate death and the robots that guard them. — Abbie Hoffman

Ou just get stoned, get the ideas in your head and then do 'em. And don't bullshit. I mean that's the thing about doin' that guerrilla theatre. You be prepared to die to prove your point. — Abbie Hoffman

Expedience, not justice, is the rule of contemporary American law. — Abbie Hoffman

In this state, dig it, you get twenty years for sale of dope to a minor. You only get five to ten for manslaughter. So like, the thing is, if you're selling to a kid and cops come, shoot the kid real quick! — Abbie Hoffman

Nostalgia is a form of depression both for a society and an individual. — Abbie Hoffman

I was probably the only revolutionary referred to as cute. — Abbie Hoffman

Above all, what you have as young people that's vitally needed to make social change, is impatience. You want it to happen now. There have to be enough people that say, "We want it now, in our lifetime. " We want to see apartheid in South Africa come down right now. We want to see the war in Central America stop right now. We want the CIA off our campus right now. We want an end to sexual harassment in our communities right now. Be adventurists in the sense of being bold and daring. Be opportunists and seize this opportunity, this moment in history, to go out and save our country. It's your turn now. — Abbie Hoffman

Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information. — Abbie Hoffman

Lay off the needle drugs. The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon. — Abbie Hoffman

The best way to educate oneself is to become part of the revolution. — Abbie Hoffman

I think we are constantly faced with the same decision. The decision to be blindly obedient to authority versus the decision to try and change things by fighting the powers that be is always, throughout history, the only decision. — Abbie Hoffman

What if when they called a war, no one went? — Abbie Hoffman

Action is the only reality; not only reality, but morality as well. — Abbie Hoffman

Usually when you ask somebody in college why they are there, they'll tell you it's to get an education. The truth of it is, they are there to get the degree so that they can get ahead in the rat race. Too many college radicals are two-timing punks. The only reason you should be in college is to destroy it. — Abbie Hoffman

Never impose your language on people you wish to reach. — Abbie Hoffman

Hep is a very dangerous disease that can cause a number of permanent conditions, including death, which is extremely permanent. — Abbie Hoffman

Peace is a very complicated concept. When the lion gobbles up the lamb and wipes his lips, then there's peace. Well, I ain't for that peace at all. — Abbie Hoffman

I think the greatest legacy of the 1960s was the general feeling that not only can you fight the powers that be, but you can win. — Abbie Hoffman

My critique of democracy begins and ends with this point. Kids must be educated to disrespect authority or else democracy is a farce. — Abbie Hoffman

Smoking dope and hanging up Che's picture is no more a
commitment than drinking milk and collecting postage stamps. — Abbie Hoffman

If you don't have sex and you don't do drugs, your rock 'n' roll better be awfully good. — Abbie Hoffman

Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburgers. — Abbie Hoffman

You are talking to a leftist. I believe in the redistribution of wealth and power in the world. I believe in universal hospital care for everyone. I believe that we should not have a single homeless person in the richest country in the world. And I believe that we should not have a C.I.A. that goes around overwhelming governments and assassinating political leaders, working for tight oligarchies around the world to protect the tight oligarchy here at home. — Abbie Hoffman

Life actors never rehearse and need no script. A life actor uses only what is available, nothing more, nothing less. — Abbie Hoffman

I've had some good times, had some bad. Took some lumps. Scored some points. Half-way through life, at 43, I still say, 'go for broke.' No government, no FBI, no judge, no jailer is ever gonna make me say 'uncle.' Now, as then, let the game continue. I bet my stake on freedom's call; I'll play these cards with no regrets. — Abbie Hoffman

Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit. — Abbie Hoffman

Fantasy is the only truth. — Abbie Hoffman

Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire. — Abbie Hoffman

It's too late. We can't win, they've gotten too powerful. — Abbie Hoffman

Maintain a sense of humor. People who take themselves too seriously are power-crazy. If they win it will be haircuts for all. Beware of power freaks. — Abbie Hoffman

The first duty of a revolutionist is to get away with it. The second duty is to eat breakfast. I ain't going. — Abbie Hoffman

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars. — Abbie Hoffman

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. — Abbie Hoffman

There is absolutely no greater high than challenging the power structure as a nobody, giving it your all, and winning! — Abbie Hoffman

To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral. — Abbie Hoffman

I just want to do what has to be done so much. I'll never understand why everyone else doesn't feel this way. — Abbie Hoffman

When I appear in the Chicago courtroom, I want to be tried not because I support the NLF - which I do - but because I have long hair. — Abbie Hoffman

When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out. — Abbie Hoffman

A modern revolutionary group heads for the television station. — Abbie Hoffman