Quote#Self
Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign…
Quote byHenry David Thoreau · 1817–1862
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Civil Disobedience (1849).
English (original)
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.
— Henry David Thoreau
More from Henry David Thoreau
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The life that I aspire to live No man proposeth me— No trade upon the street Wears its emblazonry.
Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth.
I am a parcel of vain strivings tied By a chance bond together, Dangling this way and that, their links Were made so loose and wide, Methinks, For milder weather.
But now I see I was not plucked for naught, And after in life's vase Of glass set while I might survive, But by a kind hand brought Alive To a strange place.
My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read, 'Twixt every page my thoughts go stray at large Down in the meadow, where is richer feed, And will not mind to hit their proper targe.