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Thoreau was a radical advocate for individual conscience. In *Civil Disobedience*, he argued that 'that government is best which governs least. ' He went to jail rather than pay a tax that supported slavery and war. He teaches that true freedom requires the courage to disobey unjust laws and to follow the dictates of one's own moral compass, regardless of the consequences.
"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. 1847"
"The Indian...stands free and unconstrained in Nature, is her inhabitant and not her guest, and wears her easily and gracefully. But the civilized man has the habits of the house. His house is a prison. April 26, 1841"
"Do we call this the land of the free? What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice? What is it to be born free and not to live free? What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom? Is it a freedom to be slaves, or a freedom to be free, of which we boast? We are a nation of politicians, concerned about the outmost defences only of freedom. It is our children's children who may perchance be really free. p. 493"
Website: Wikiquote - Henry David Thoreau (Life Without Principle (1863))
"The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free. "Slavery in Massachusetts" (1854)"
"The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual."
Website: Wikiquote - Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience (1849))
"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. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."
Website: Wikiquote - Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience (1849))
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