"I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both these things would be by me unavoidable. We preserve the so-called peace of our community by deeds of petty violence every day. Look at the policeman's billy and handcuffs! Look at the jail! Look at the gallows! Look at the chaplain of the regiment! We are hoping only to live safely on the outskirts of this provisional army. So we defend ourselves and our hen-roosts, and maintain slavery. I know that the mass of my countrymen think that the only righteous use that can be made of Sharp's rifles and revolvers is to fight duels with them, when we are insulted by other nations, or to hunt Indians, or shoot fugitive slaves with them, or the like. I think that for once the Sharp's rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Anarchists from the United StatesAbolitionistsUnitarians from the United States19th-century poets from the United StatesLeft-libertarians
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Henry David Thoreau
1817 – 1862
US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller
306 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Henry David Thoreau →
Related Quotes
"I saw that, though he was assiduously gnawing at the near foreleg of his enemy, having severed his remaining feeler, …"
"Just within the edge of the wood there, I see a small painted turtle on its back, with its head stretched out as if t…"
"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."
"A kü moalkat trog a hols."
"Krava pri gobcu molze."
"Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf Than that I may not disappoint myself, That in my action I may soar as high …"
"I am a parcel of vain strivings tied By a chance bond together, Dangling this way and that, their links Were made so …"
"The life that I aspire to live No man proposeth me— No trade upon the street Wears its emblazonry."
"Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth."
"Here while I lie beneath this walnut bough, What care I for the Greeks or for Troy town, If juster battles are enacte…"