Aesthetic Papers/Resistance to Civil Government |Aesthetic
Papers (1849) Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David
Thoreau |This text is sometimes presented under the title Civil
Disobedience or On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.| Art.
X.—RESISTANCE TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. I heartily accept the
motto,—"That government is best which governs least;" and I
should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and
systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which
also I believe,—"That government is best which governs not at
all;" and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of
government which they will have. Government is at best but an
expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments
are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been
brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty,
and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a
standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the
standing government. The government itself, which is