Civil Disobedience

by

Henry David Thoreau

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Civil Disobedience Term Analysis

Civil disobedience is the strategic refusal to obey certain laws and statutes of a country or state. For example, one can practice civil disobedience by refusing to pay taxes to a state or government, as a way of objecting to the government’s use of those funds. Civil disobedience is what Henry David Thoreau suggests every citizen with a conscience must use to respond to an unfair and unjust government.

Civil Disobedience Quotes in Civil Disobedience

The Civil Disobedience quotes below are all either spoken by Civil Disobedience or refer to Civil Disobedience. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American People vs. The American Government Theme Icon
).
Civil Disobedience Quotes

There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing […] They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker)
Page Number: 280
Explanation and Analysis:

It is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker), The American Government, The American People
Page Number: 281-282
Explanation and Analysis:

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth, —certainly the machine will wear out […] If it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker)
Page Number: 283-284
Explanation and Analysis:

I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name, —if ten honest men only, —aye, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done for ever.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker)
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker)
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:

Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects and obtains them for him; and it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it. It puts to rest many questions which he would otherwise be taxed to answer; while the only new question which it puts is the hard but superfluous one, how to spend it.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker)
Page Number: 287
Explanation and Analysis:

As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body; just as boys, if they cannot come at some person against whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. I saw that the State was halfwitted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it and pitied it.

Related Characters: Henry David Thoreau (speaker)
Page Number: 289
Explanation and Analysis:
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Civil Disobedience Term Timeline in Civil Disobedience

The timeline below shows where the term Civil Disobedience appears in Civil Disobedience. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Civil Disobedience
Justice vs. Law Theme Icon
State Submission as a Pretense for Patriotism Theme Icon
Civil Disobedience  Theme Icon
He notes that, if an act of civil disobedience ends in jail time, then all the better, because “the true place of a just... (full context)
Civil Disobedience  Theme Icon
...however, that those with wealth and much to lose may find it difficult to practice civil disobedience . He claims that more money equates to less virtue, which leads in turn to... (full context)
Civil Disobedience  Theme Icon
...one’s life are big enough risks to deter “the freest of [his] neighbors” from practicing civil disobedience . He concedes that if he were in their shoes, he would also find it... (full context)
Civil Disobedience  Theme Icon
Thoreau provides examples of his own acts of civil disobedience . First, he recounts how he refused to pay a tax to the church, though... (full context)