If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you… — Henry David Thoreau

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.

Henry David ThoreauAuthor · American · 1817 – 1862

More from Henry David Thoreau

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little. — Samuel Johnson
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. — Alexander Pope
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. — Francis Bacon
Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve. — Henry David Thoreau
If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see. — Henry David Thoreau
All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning. — Henry David Thoreau