"Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide
right and wrong, but conscience?—in which majorities decide only those
questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen
ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the
legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should
be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a
respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I
have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is
truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation
of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made
men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the
well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural
result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of
soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all,
marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their
wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very
steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have
no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they
are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men at all? or small
movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in
power?"

"Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor
to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we
transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this,
think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to
alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be
worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the
remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt
to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise
minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not
encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do
better than it would have them?"

"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of
government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth—certainly
the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or
a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider
whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a
nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then,
I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the
machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend
myself to the wrong which I condemn."

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a
just man is also a prison."

"If any think that their influence would be lost there, and their voices
no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy
within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than
error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat
injustice who has experienced a little in his own person. Cast your whole
vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is
powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority
then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight."

"Is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded? Through
this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to
an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now."

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