Henry David Thoreau Quotes

My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.

Silence is complicity. I believe that.

Passivity is the same as defending injustice.

Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they'll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it.

A time comes when silence is betrayal.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders.

Americans believe that if you know something, you should do something about it.

What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does.

If we sit by and become complacent and put our heads in the sand, we're complicit.

If you know something is morally reprehensible, then it is your moral obligation to stop it as soon as possible.

I know that we will be the sufferers if we let great wrongs occur without exerting ourselves to correct them.

Duty is one and invariable; it requires no impossibilities, nor can it ever be disregarded with impunity; so far as it exists, it is binding, so as on no account to be neglected.

So long as my voice can be heard on this or the other side of the Atlantic, I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.

I am only one. But I am one. I cannot do everything. But I can do something. What I can do I ought to do. What I ought to do I will do

To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans.

If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it is our duty to prevent it and to damn the consequences.

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

The worst thing of all is standing by when folks are doing something wrong.

You can't remain inactive in the face of injustice without, to some extent, being guilty of it.

You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.

Better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act.

Evil prospers when good men do nothing.

If a policy is wrongheaded, feckless and corrupt, I take it personally and consider it a moral obligation to sound off and not shut up until it's fixed.

We have got to stop being a society that turns our heads and looks the other way.