"Must the citizen ever for a moment,..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau
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 that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right... 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.
More by Henry David Thoreau
“Associate reverently, and as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.”
“The foul slime stands for the sloth and vice of man, the decay of humanity; the fragrant flower that springs from it, for the purity and courage which are immortal.”
“It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience, but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.”
More on Conscience
“The only guide to a man's conscience, the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions.”
“A sense of shame is not a bad moral compass.”
“The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause of dissatisfaction with himself.”
More on Civil Disobedience
“Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey the laws too well.”
“No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
“I'm thinking of love in action and not something where you say, "Love your enemies," and just leave it at that, but you love your enemies to the point that you're willing to sit-in at a lunch counter in order to help them find themselves. You're willing to go to jail.”