Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (English Edition)

"When I converse with the freest of my neighbors, I perceive that, whatever they may say about the magnitude and seriousness of the question, and their regard for the public tranquillity, the long and the short of the matter is, that they cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they dread the consequences of disobedience to it to their property and families. For my own part, I should not like to think that I ever rely on the protection of the State."

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher.