1
There is no such thing as accomplishing a righteous reform by the use of 'expediency.' There is no such thing as sliding up hill. In morals, the only sliders are backsliders.Henry David Thoreau
2
I would remind my countrymen that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour.Henry David Thoreau
3
The fate of the country... does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.Henry David Thoreau
4
If there is any hell more unprincipled than our rulers, and we, the ruled, I feel curious to see it.Henry David Thoreau
5
A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length ever become the laughing-stock of the world.Henry David Thoreau
6
Now-a-days, men wear a fool's cap, and call it a liberty cap.Henry David Thoreau
7
Probably no country was ever ruled by so mean a class of tyrants as, with a few noble exceptions, are the editors of the periodical press in this country. And as they live and rule only by their servility, and appealing to the worst, and not the better nature of man, the people who read them are in the condition of the dog that returns to his vomit.Henry David Thoreau
8
I believe that, in this country, the press exerts a greater and a more pernicious influence than the church did in its worst period. We are not a religious people, but we are a nation of politicians.Henry David Thoreau
9
Those who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts.Henry David Thoreau
10
A distinguished clergyman told me that he chose the profession of a clergyman because it afforded the most leisure for literary pursuits. I would recommend to him the profession of a governor.Henry David Thoreau