“If it's illegal to rock and roll, then throw me in jail.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
A collection of quotes on the topic of illegal, people, doing, use.
“If it's illegal to rock and roll, then throw me in jail.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer
Press statement (21 July 2003), quoted in "Jackson attacks music piracy bill" in BBC News (22 July 2003) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3085987.stm
Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)
Source: Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope
Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist
The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1930s, Power: A New Social Analysis (1938), Ch. 12: Powers and forms of governments
Maulana Karenga (1941) Political activist
Black Power Conference (July 1967), quoted in How Newark Became Newark (2009) by Brad Tuttle
Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist
Chapter VIII http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/abeslmca5t.html <br class="br">1830s, An Appeal on Behalf of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833)
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Speech on the floor of the US Senate (3 April 2006). "Obama Fence Statement" https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4652652/obama-fence-statement, starting at about 2:05. <br class="br">2006
“Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.”
Robert Orben (1928) American magician and writer
Manly Daily staff (August 5, 2008) "They Said What?", Manly Daily, p. 8.
Attributed
Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist
The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist
The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
Context: Don’t change the white man’s mind—you can’t change his mind, and that whole thing about appealing to the moral conscience of America—America’s conscience is bankrupt. She lost all conscience a long time ago. Uncle Sam has no conscience. They don’t know what morals are. They don’t try and eliminate an evil because it’s evil, or because it’s illegal, or because it’s immoral; they eliminate it only when it threatens their existence. So you’re wasting your time appealing to the moral conscience of a bankrupt man like Uncle Sam. If he had a conscience, he’d straighten this thing out with no more pressure being put upon him. So it is not necessary to change the white man’s mind.
Jack Donovan (1974) American activist, editor and writer
pg 42
A More Complete Beast (2018)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1930s, Education and the Social Order (1932), p. 110
Ivanka Trump (1981) American businesswoman, socialite, fashion model and daughter of Donald Trump
via tweet https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/1324720284948193285 On November 6, 2020 <br class="br">2020
“Everything good in life is either immoral, illegal or fattening.”
Nicole Richie (1981) American television personality, musician, actress, and author
Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist
Source: Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer
As quoted in If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't There More Happy People? (2009) by John Mitchinson, p. 87
“Most suits made the man. Gideon did things to a three-piece suit that should've been illegal.”
Sylvia Day (1973) American writer
Variant: Most suits made the man. Gideon did things to a three-piece suit that should be illegal.
Source: Reflected in You
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor
Hope, Despair, and Memory (1986)
Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Swedish filmmaker
On his plans for his autobiography Laterna Magica, as quoted in "Who is he really?" http://www.ingmarbergman.se/universe.asp?guid=4F72F9D3-43BB-405D-B42B-3D091B8FAF3A <br class="br">Source: The Magic Lantern
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1960s, (1963)
“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”
Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State
As quoted in The Washington Post (23 December 1973); he later joked further on this remark, on 10 March 1975 saying to Turkish Foreign Minister Melih Esenbel in Ankara, Turkey:<br>Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." … But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that. <br class="br">As quoted in "Sunshine Week Document Friday! Kissinger Says, “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer. But since the FOIA, I’m afraid to say things like that.” in Unredacted : The National Security Archive, unedited and uncensored http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/document-friday-kissinger-says-the-illegal-we-do-immediately-the-unconstitutional-takes-a-little-longer-but-since-the-foia-im-afraid-to-say-things-like-that/ <br class="br">Included in Cable P860114-1573_MC_b http://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/P860114-1573_MC_b.html#efmCS3CUB Wikileaks <br class="br">1970s
“If voting changed anything, it would be made illegal”
Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches
Variants: <br class="br">"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." <br class="br">"If voting changed anything it would be illegal." <br class="br">"If voting made a difference it would be illegal." <br class="br">"If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it." - also incorrectly attributed to American humorist Mark Twain or American peace activist Philip Berrigan.. <br class="br">Although often attributed to Goldman, there is no evidence that she made this statement. The earliest known example of this quote is from a 1976 newspaper opinion piece: "If voting could change anything, it would be made illegal". <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Source: Snopes.com - Election Dissection http://www.snopes.com/mark-twain-voting-quote/ <br class="br">Source: Borden, Robert S., "Voting is Dishonest and Fraudulent" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5211342/if_voting_could_change_anything_it/, The Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts), 1976-09-24, p. 7
Genevieve Cogman (1972) novelist and game designer
Source: The Invisible Library
“Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
A wonderful quote, if only it were true, despite no shortage image-quote-memes online. note: "Spurious" here: https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tyranny-defined-which-legal-government-spurious-quotation note: "Not True"
Source: https://www.truthorfiction.com/thomas-jefferson-tyranny-is-defined-as-that-which-is-legal-for-the-government-quote/
“Sheriff of Rotingham King illegal forest to pig wild kill in it a is!”
Mel Brooks (1926) American director, writer, actor, and producer
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Chuck Schumer (1950) U.S. Senator from the State of New York
Speech on immigration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdL2k8jbnAs (24 June 2009), quoted in "Schumer talks tough on immigration reform issue" https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/schumer-talks-tough-on-immigration-reform-issue-1.1868825 by Tom Brune, Newsday.com (18 April 2010)
Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician
Interview by Joseph Murtagh, June 28, 2007 http://www.muckrakerreport.com/id447.html <br class="br">2000s, 2006-2009
L. David Mech (1937) American Biologist , Ecologist
Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation (2003)
Eric Holder (1951) 82nd Attorney General of the United States
2010s, Update on Investigations in Ferguson (2015)
Rick Perry (1950) 14th and current United States Secretary of Energy
2011-11-29
Perry says will deport all detained illegal immigrants
Reuters
Jason
McLure
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/29/us-usa-campaign-perry-idUSTRE7AS2E620111129
2011
Arthur Young (1741–1820) English writer
Arthur Young (1789), quoted in: Samuel Laing (1842), Notes of a Traveller on the Social and Political State of France, Prussia, Switzerland, Italy and Other Parts of Europe During the Present Century, p. 35
According to Samuel Laing, Arthur Young wrote this "consequently before the sale of the national domains, crown and church estates, and confiscated estates of the noblesse, and before the law of partition of property among all the children became obligatory on all classes of the community... and a few mouths only before a law was passed directly opposed to the principle he recommends — the law abolishing the rights of primogeniture, and making the division of property among all the children obligatory; and which law has been ever since, that is, for nearly half a century, in general and uninterrupted operation."
Vandana Shiva (1952) Indian philosopher
On biopiracy, from the booklet " No Patents on Seeds: A Handbook For Activists https://books.google.co.in/books/about/No_Patents_on_Seeds_a_Handbook_for_Activ.html?id=F0mftgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y" (2005)
Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer
Non-Fiction, Homage to QWERT YUIOP: Selected Journalism 1978-1985 (1986)
Brigham Young (1801–1877) Latter Day Saint movement leader
Journal of Discourses 2:186 (Feb. 18, 1855)
Young's response to those that persecuted the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois.
1850s
Chris Rea (1951) English singer-songwriter
David Mead (2017 June 15) " Chris Rea on his guitar origins, Strats, the blues and La Passione http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/chris-rea-on-his-guitar-origins-strats-the-blues-and-la-passione-638813" by MusicRadar <br class="br">2017
Jerzy Vetulani (1936–2017) Polish scientist
Vetulani, Jerzy (18 October 2010): Nawet czarownice wiedziały, co sprzedają https://dziennikpolski24.pl/nawet-czarownice-wiedzialy-co-sprzedaja/ar/2867902, interview. Dziennik Polski (in Polish).
Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician
Your World with Neil Cavuto, FOX News, December 19, 2007 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317536,00.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrRtZaG63o8 <br class="br">2000s, 2006-2009
Eric Holder (1951) 82nd Attorney General of the United States
2010s, Update on Investigations in Ferguson (2015)
Michael Bloomberg (1942) American businessman and politician, former mayor of New York City
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18248547/site/newsweek/
Gun Control
Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman (1961) British philosopher
Politics, Employment Polices and the Young Generation, Maurice Glasman http://www.lse.ac.uk/economics/newsEventsSeminars/files/MauriceGlasmanPaper.pdf
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
2010s, 2016, July, (21 July 2016)
Julius Malema (1981) South African political activist
In Cuba, after paying his respects at Fidel Castro's funeral, Julius Malema in Cuba for Castro's funeral https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQy8ALs-aIo, SABC News (5 December 2016)
L. Neil Smith (1946) American writer
"Tastes Like Chicken".
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Arizona v. United States (2012) : 567 U.S. ___ (2012); decided June 25, 2012.
2010s
Milo Yiannopoulos (1984) British journalist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JciVfnR2lis Milo Yiannopoulos - Christianity vs. Islam on gays, Sky News (12 July 2016) <br class="br">2016
John S. Hall (1960) Poet, author, singer, lawyer
Interview by Elein Fleiss and Olivier Zahm, ca. 1992 ( link http://adaweb.com/~purple/kingm.html) <br class="br">Quotes from interviews
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Source: 2010s, 2015, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again (2015), p. 30
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2004, Signing of Secure Fence Act of 2006
Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989) Soviet nuclear physicist and human rights activist
Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom (1968), Dangers, The Threat to Intellectual Freedom
Hugo Black (1886–1971) U.S. Supreme Court justice
Dissenting in Green v. United States, 365 U.S. 301, 309-310 (1961).
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Special Message to Congress on the Burr Conspiracy, declaring his former Vice President an illegal conspirator and a fugitive from justice (22 January 1807)
1800s, Second Presidential Administration (1805-1809)
Mobutu Sésé Seko (1930–1997) President of Zaïre
November 25, 1977. D.J. Gould, "Patrons and Clients: The Role of the Military in Zaire Politics," in Isaac Mowoe, ed., The Performance of Soldiers as Governors, p. 485
Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator
2015, Adios, America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole (2015)
“Barack Obama may have won in 2008 in North Carolina due to illegal voting.”
Boris Epshteyn (1982)
On CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper. http://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/trump-advocate-stuns-jake-tapper-by-claiming-obama-won-north-carolina-in-2008-due-to-voter-fraud/ (18 October 2016)
Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power
Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part III: Government as substitute husband, p. 288.
John Ehrlichman (1925–1999) Lawyer, Watergate co-conspirator, writer
as quoted in "Legalize it all" https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/ Harper's Magazine, April 2016
Alan Greenspan (1926) 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the United States
Gold and Economic Freedom http://www.constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm 1966 <br class="br">1950–60s
“No admission of the party... can make that legal which is in its nature illegal.”
William Henry Ashurst (judge) (1725–1807) English judge
Atherfold v. Beard (1788), 1 T. R. 615.
Raymond Poincaré (1860–1934) 10th President of the French Republic
Diary entry (4 August 1914), quoted in John Keiger, 'France' in Keith Wilson (ed.), Decisions for War 1914 (London: University College London Press, 1995), pp. 141-142.
Michael Chabon (1963) Novelist, short story writer, essayist
Obama vs. the Phobocracy http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020302526.html, Washington Post (February 4, 2008)
Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician
Escudero, F. [Francis]. (2015, March 16). Retrieved from Official Facebook Page of Francis Escudero https://www.facebook.com/senchizescudero/posts/10153138861210610/ <br class="br">2015, Facebook
Shamini Flint book Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder, Cap 8
Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist
Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement (1997), p. xi.
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom
Speech in Nottingham (18 October 1887) referring to the Mitchelstown Massacre, quoted in The Times (19 October 1887), p. 6.
1880s
Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician
2009, Statement: on the latest conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi
Scott Zolak (1967) American football quarterback
On the Patriots radio broadcast on 98.5 The Sports Hub after Malcolm Butler's game-winning interception of Russell Wilson at the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX. Seahawks Opponent Audio Recap - Super Bowl XLIX - Scott Zolak & Bob Socci (Patriots, 98.5 The Sports Hub) http://www.sportsradiokjr.com/media/play/opponent-audio-recap-sb-xlix-patriots-25788776/ KJR
Menachem Begin (1913–1992) Israeli politician and Prime Minister
Iron Wall, p. 25 & Simha Flapan, p. 32
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Full Transcript of the Sixth Republican Debate in Charleston http://time.com/4182096/republican-debate-charleston-transcript-full-text/, Time (14 January 2016). <br class="br">2010s, 2016, January
Anita Sarkeesian (1983) American blogger
Anita Sarkeesian UN Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3m-bcaCVbM?t=7m56s (2015) @7:56
Marsha Blackburn (1952) American politician
What I Saw During Our Vote To Secure The Border https://www.redstate.com/diary/marshablackburn/2014/08/06/saw-vote-secure-border/ (August 6, 2014)
Lou Barletta (1956) American politician
Lou Barletta, an immigration hard-liner in Congress, endorses Trump https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/22/lou-barletta-an-immigration-hard-liner-in-congress-endorses-trump (March 22, 2016)
Elijah Haahr (1982)
Up Close and Personal with Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr https://themissouritimes.com/40993/close-personal-speaker-pro-tem-elijah-haahr/ (May 18, 2017)