Henry David Thoreau

About the author

Thoreau: Pioneer of Anarchist Thought

Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts, United States. He was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher, a leading transcendentalist, and a noted tax resister.

Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. He is best known for his book 'Walden', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay 'Civil Disobedience' (originally published as 'Resistance to Civil Government'), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. He died on May 6, 1862, at the age of 44.

Date of Birth: July 12, 1817

Date of Death: May 6, 1862

Country of Birth: United States

Political Ideas: Civil Disobedience, Individual Anarchism

Quotes Available: 19

Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war.

Those services which the community will most readily pay for it is most disagreeable to render. You are paid for being something less than a man.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject.

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.

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.

The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.

Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.

A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

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.

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?

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?

Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man?

That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess.

If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

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