Henry David Thoreau Quotes About Independence

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, in the mountain-travel passage represented by Project Gutenberg #4232. The line follows Thoreau's argument that travellers often exaggerate difficulties and that a person who thinks himself lost can recover steadiness by recognizing where he actually stands.

Civil Disobedience, first printed in 1849 as “Resistance to Civil Government”; represented Wikisource text. The surrounding paragraph asks whether citizens should resign conscience to legislators.

Civil Disobedience, first published in 1849 as 'Resistance to Civil Government'; reviewed in the public-domain Miscellanies transcription. The obligation-to-do-right sentence occurs early in Thoreau's argument contrasting conscience with automatic deference to majority rule and law. It remains historical political philosophy rather than current legal advice or a blanket instruction to violate law.

Life Without Principle, The Atlantic Monthly, 1863; represented Wikisource text. The surrounding passage contrasts formal national freedom with what Thoreau calls moral freedom.

Walden; Thoreau contrasts one’s own deliberate track with paths chosen by others.

Walden, “Economy,” in the passage contrasting public opinion with a person’s own private opinion of himself.

Conclusion of Walden; Thoreau argues for following one’s own measure and direction.