..This is the arena in which a spiritualized disobedience means most. It doesn't mean a second New Deal, another massive bureaucratic attack on our problems. It doesn't mean taking to the streets, throwing bricks through the window at the Bank of America, or driving a tractor through the local McDonald's. It means living differently. It means taking responsibility for the character of the human world. That's a real confrontation with the problem of value. In short, refusal of the present is a return to what Thoreau and Ruskin called "human fundamentals, valuable things, " and it is a movement into the future. This movement into the future is also a powerful expression of that most human spiritual emotion, Hope.p.124 . Curtis White
About This Quote

In the opening lines of "Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau speaks about the importance of non-cooperation with the law. In this book, Thoreau talks about how people can use civil disobedience to express their devotion to their country. He says that it is not enough to simply obey laws that are unjust, but also makes a strong statement by saying that one should disobey unjust laws. Thoreau believes that this type of defiance can draw attention to issues that need to be addressed.

Source: The Spirit Of Disobedience: Resisting The Charms Of Fake Politics, Mindless Consumption, And The Culture Of Total Work

Some Similar Quotes
  1. They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. - Tom Bodett

  2. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - Anonymous

  3. If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him... - Paulo Coelho

  4. Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart. - Unknown

  5. To love life, to love it evenwhen you have no stomach for itand everything you've held dearcrumbles like burnt paper in your hands, your throat filled with the silt of it. When grief sits with you, its tropical heatthickening the air, heavy as watermore fit... - Ellen Bass

More Quotes By Curtis White
  1. ..This is the arena in which a spiritualized disobedience means most. It doesn't mean a second New Deal, another massive bureaucratic attack on our problems. It doesn't mean taking to the streets, throwing bricks through the window at the Bank of America, or driving a...

  2. Like characters in Greek tragedy, we seem fated to push technology towards its ultimate degree as if we were possessed by malignant gods. We call these gods "curiosity" and "creativity" and "reason" and "progress", but when these words are perverted by technocrats, they are more...

Related Topics