“ Is there any necessity for a man’s being a tool to perform a deed of which his better nature disapproves? ”
Henry David Thoreau, A Plea For Captain John Brown (1859). copy citation
| Author | Henry David Thoreau |
|---|---|
| Source | A Plea For Captain John Brown |
| Topic | necessity tool |
| Date | 1859 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2567/2567-h/2567-h.htm |
Context
“but when a government takes the life of a man without the consent of his conscience, it is an audacious government, and is taking a step towards its own dissolution. Is it not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made? or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good? Is there any necessity for a man’s being a tool to perform a deed of which his better nature disapproves? Is it the intention of law-makers that good men shall be hung ever? Are judges to interpret the law according to the letter, and not the spirit? What right have you to enter into a compact with yourself that you will do thus or so, against the light within you?”
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