But sometimes governments also murder millions of people, keep entire segments of the population in slavery, and bring the earth to the brink of nuclear holocaust. A government is one way to do that, if you need to build a road, or keep people safe. Sometimes people need to get together to make things happen. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted, before the people can act through it.” “The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The point is that government is only required when things need to be forced, and someday, we will live in a world where everything worth being done at all is done voluntarily.

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.” “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.

Here are the ten best quotes from his 25-page essay. He was actually annoyed when an anonymous person paid his bail because Thoreau saw his time in jail as a worthy sacrifice to protest the injustice of extortion AKA taxes. Thoreau had also spent a night in jail years earlier after refusing to pay a poll tax, which he discusses in Civil Disobedience. At this point, Thoreau had already spent his time at Walden Pond. Thoreau was 32 years old, living in Massachusetts. Henry David Thoreau believed that it was not only proper but necessary to disobey bad laws.Ĭivil Disobedience, or Resisting Civil Government as it was originally titled, was published in 1849.

Although the essay was written 168 years ago, the subject of Civil Disobedience is more relevant than ever.Īs people debate the scope of government power in regards to Covid-19 lockdowns, some are openly defying the law.

Civil disobedience 1849