Henry David Thoreau - Law quotes 3 | Legal Typing Course

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No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world.⏎
The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.⏎
Any fool can make a rule And any fool will mind it.⏎
It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.⏎
I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation. I do not wish to split hairs, to make fine distinctions, or set myself up as better than my neighbors. I seek rather, I may say, even an excuse for conforming to the laws of the land. I am but too ready to conform to them.⏎
If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.⏎
Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?