Civil Disobedience
by Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau's 1849 essay from a night in jail for refusing a poll tax: conscience above law, the individual's duty not to lend himself to wrong. Influenced Gandhi and King. Short and still incendiary.
Read it if…
you want the founding text of principled refusal.
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Skip it if…
you want Walden's calm.
Try instead: Walking →
Three things you will actually use
- Let your life be a counter-friction to the machine.
- Conscience first.
- One honest person can move a state.
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Our verdict
Conscience above law.
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