“Civil disobedience, as I put it to the audience, was not the problem, despite the warnings of some that it threatened social stability, that it led to anarchy. The greatest danger, I argued, was civil obedience, the submission of individual conscience to governmental authority. Such obedience led to the horrors we saw in totalitarian states, and in liberal states it led to the public's acceptance of war whenever the so-called democratic government decided on it...
In such a world, the rule of law maintains things as they are. Therefore, to begin the process of change, to stop a war, to establish justice, it may be necessary to break the law, to commit acts of civil disobedience, as Southern black did, as antiwar protesters did.”
― You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times
In such a world, the rule of law maintains things as they are. Therefore, to begin the process of change, to stop a war, to establish justice, it may be necessary to break the law, to commit acts of civil disobedience, as Southern black did, as antiwar protesters did.”
― You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times
“Let us put it generally: if a regime is immoral, its subjects are free from all obligations to it.”
― The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books V-VII
― The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books V-VII
“I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”
― The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
― The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“But it is not your own Shire,’ said Gildor. ‘Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.”
― The Fellowship of the Ring
― The Fellowship of the Ring
“It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.”
― Nicomachean Ethics and Politics
― Nicomachean Ethics and Politics
chris’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at chris’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by chris
Lists liked by chris























