What Henry David Thoreau thinks about government
American philosopher and writer (1817 to 1862); graduated from Harvard in 1837; lived at Walden Pond for two years and two months; author of the essay Civil Disobedience.
Henry David Thoreau did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
3 dated positions, 1854, in their own words. Our reading of what Henry David Thoreau has said — not written or endorsed by them.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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Their wordsA government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length even become the laughing-stock of the world.
↗A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papersgutenberg.org 1st of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsThe law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free. They are the lovers of law and order, who observe the law when the government breaks it.
↗A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papersgutenberg.org 2nd of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsThe effect of a good government is to make life more valuable,-of a bad one, to make it less valuable.
↗A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papersgutenberg.org 8th of 8 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.