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Justice Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

35 Justice quotes by Henry David Thoreau

All Justice quotes Henry David Thoreau’s page

If you’re drawn to thoughtful musings that tie personal integrity to the larger social order, Thoreau’s justice‑focused verses offer a compact yet resonant glimpse into his philosophical stance. The selection captures his habit of turning everyday observations into larger questions about fairness and moral responsibility.

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The lover wants no partiality. He says, Be so kind as to be just.

Henry David Thoreau

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Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant.

Henry David Thoreau

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We do not live by justice, but by grace.

Henry David Thoreau

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If however the law is so promulgated that it of necessity makes you an agent of injustices against another, then I say…

Henry David Thoreau

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Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.

Henry David Thoreau

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While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.

Henry David Thoreau

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Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made…

Henry David Thoreau

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If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it…

Henry David Thoreau

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But government in which the majority rule in all cases can not be based on justice, even as far as men understand…

Henry David Thoreau

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If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,…

Henry David Thoreau

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Law never made man a whit more just; and by means of their respect for it, even the well disposed are daily…

Henry David Thoreau

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If private men are obliged to perform the offices of government, to protect the weak and dispense justice, then the government becomesonly…

Henry David Thoreau

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Sometimes we are clarified and calmed healthily, as we never were before in our lives, not by an opiate, but by some…

Henry David Thoreau

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If an injustice requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life…

Henry David Thoreau

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Whoever can discern truth has received his commission from a higher source than the chiefest justice in the world who can discernonly…

Henry David Thoreau

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Why the jailer does not leave open his prison doors,--why the judge does not dismiss his case,--why the preacher does not dismisshis…

Henry David Thoreau

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To watch this crystal globe just sent from heaven to associate with me. While these clouds and this somber drizzling weather shut…

Henry David Thoreau

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The only government that I recognize--and it matters not how few are at the head of it, or how small its army--is…

Henry David Thoreau

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If private men are obliged to perform the offices of government, to protect the weak and dispense justice, then the government becomes…

Henry David Thoreau

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“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it…

Henry David Thoreau

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When a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a…

Henry David Thoreau

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In 1694 a law was passed "that every settler who deserted a town for fear of the Indians should forfeit all his…

Henry David Thoreau

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The Oriental philosophy approaches easily loftier themes than the modern aspires to; and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them. It…

Henry David Thoreau

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“Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make…

Henry David Thoreau

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I wish my countrymen to consider that whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can ever commit…

Henry David Thoreau

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f the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it…

Henry David Thoreau

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After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and…

Henry David Thoreau

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It behooves every man to see that his influence is on the side of justice, and let the courts make their own…

Henry David Thoreau

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The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable; of a bad one, to make it less valuable.

Henry David Thoreau

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“A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length ever become the laughing-stock of the world.”

Henry David Thoreau

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If I were confined to a corner of a garret all my days, like a spider, the world would be just as…

Henry David Thoreau

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“If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself.”

Henry David Thoreau

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I should fear the infinite power and inflexible justice of the almighty mortal hardly as yet apotheosized, so wholly masculine, with no…

Henry David Thoreau

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“There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put…

Henry David Thoreau

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The state does not demand justice of its members, but thinks that it succeeds very well with the least degree of it,…

Henry David Thoreau

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More by Henry David Thoreau

If ever I did a man any goodof course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am…

Henry David Thoreau

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Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.

Henry David Thoreau

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“Men say they know many things; But lo! they have taken wings, — The arts and sciences, And a thousand appliances; The wind that…

Henry David Thoreau

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I am not afraid of praise, for I have practiced it on myself.

Henry David Thoreau

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“All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or back gammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and…

Henry David Thoreau

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“This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of…

Henry David Thoreau

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As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may…

Henry David Thoreau

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A traveler who looks at things with an impartial eye may see what the oldest inhabitant has not observed.

Henry David Thoreau

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In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the…

Henry David Thoreau

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I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

Henry David Thoreau

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The still youthful energies of the globe have only to be directed in their proper channel.

Henry David Thoreau

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Concord's little arch does not span all our fate, nor is what transpires under it law for the universe.

Henry David Thoreau

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The lumberers rarely trouble themselves to put out their fires, such is the dampness of the primitive forest; and this is one cause, no…

Henry David Thoreau

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“When he has obtained those things which are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities; and that is, to…

Henry David Thoreau

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Wealth is measured by the level of experience in all aspects of life

Henry David Thoreau

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