A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The question is whether you can bear freedom. At present the vast majority of men, whether white or black, require the discipline… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were the good and the brave ever in a majority?… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it conforms to… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality,--that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient? chooses… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Cast your whole vote, not a piece of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless when it conforms to… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The majority of the men of the North, and of the South and East and West, are not men of principle. If… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support, both inperson and… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
What is wanted is men of principle, who recognize a higher law than the decision of the majority. The marines and the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
A traveler who looks at things with an impartial eye may see what the oldest inhabitant has not observed. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The still youthful energies of the globe have only to be directed in their proper channel. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Concord's little arch does not span all our fate, nor is what transpires under it law for the universe. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
