So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in ideas that we don't even notice how monstrous it is to deny ideas to a people who are dying without them.

The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in copyright, produces.

The war against illegal file-sharing is like the church's age-old war against masturbation. It's a war you just can't win.

Creation always involves building upon something else. There is no art that doesn't reuse. And there will be less art if every reuse is taxed by the appropriator.

Before the monopoly should be permitted, there must be reason to believe it will do some good - for society, and not just for monopoly holders.

Monopoly controls have been the exception in free societies; they have been the rule in closed societies.

We are on the cusp of this time where I can say, "I speak as a citizen of the world" without others saying, "God, what a nut."

If the Internet teaches us anything, it is that great value comes from leaving core resources in a commons, where they're free for people to build upon as they see fit.

A culture without property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not freedom.

Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device.

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

Your fear will always be triggered by your creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into the realms of uncertain outcome, and fear hates uncertain outcome.

Here’s the truth: Who is spared love is spared grief.

Family trips to Yellowstone and to what are now national parks in Southern Utah, driving the primitive roads and cars of that day, were real adventures.

Guilt, remorse. It's what separates us from the animals.

Everything takes meticulous planning and nothing works out the way it's supposed to.

Nothing exists but atoms and the void.

One of the things it was obvious you could do with an online store is have a much more complete selection.

Of all the forms of wisdom, hindsight is by general consent the least merciful, the most unforgiving.

The investigation of this problem - How is spontaneous order possible? - is sometimes referred to as the 'Hayek programme'.

I thought it was something peculiar to me. I thought I was abnormal.