On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

By Thoreau, Henry David

Book Id: WPLBN0000138622
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 0.6 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Author:	Thoreau, Henry David
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Literature, Literature & thought, Writing.
Collections:	Classic Literature Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	World Ebook Library


Citation APA MLA Chicago Thoreau, H. D. (n.d.). On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.us/

Excerpt
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. 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 the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. 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.

Table of Contents
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