Henry David Thoreau Quotes
I think it will be found that he who speaks with most authority on a given subject is not ignorant of what has been said by his predecessors. He will take his place in a regular order, and substantially add his own knowledge to the knowledge of previous generations.
Thoreau, Henry David. The Journal of Henry D. Thoreau, 1837-1861. Edited by Bradford Torrey and Francis H. Allen, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1906.
Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.