"Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform." "Law never made men a whit more just and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice." "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think we should be men first, and subjects afterwards." Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?" "A government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice. This makes it impossible for a man to live honestly, and at the same time comfortably." "If I deny the authority of the state…it will soon take and waste my property and so harass me and my children without end. "The state.is not armed with superior honesty, but with superior physical strength." "If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance…America would not long retain her rank among the nations." "Statesmen and legislators…all their wit and usefulness lie within certain not very wide limits." "Government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted." Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe - 'That government is best which governs not at all'"
“I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least' and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. And it still has much to say today, if we will listen. The book helped inspire the World War II resistance, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, those struggling against apartheid, and others. Less remembered, however, is that while living at Walden Pond, he gave an 1848 lecture on “Resistance to Civil Government”- since published as Civil Disobedience -which had much farther reaching effects.
Today, July 12, marks the 200 th anniversary of the birth of Henry David Thoreau, known best for chronicling his experiment in simple and self-sufficient living in Walden.
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