On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
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On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
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Narrated by:
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Jim Killavey
About this listen
This essay by Thoreau first published in 1849, argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule their consciences. It goes on to say that individuals have a duty to avoid allowing the government to make them the agents of injustice. The quote: "That government is best which governs least," sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Paine, actually was first found in this essay. Thoreaus' thoughts were motivated by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War but they are still relevant and resonate today.
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What listeners say about On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Carol Anne Kunzig
- 03-17-23
Responsibility
Enjoyed the text. Good to hear another person's perspective. Very good reader. Would recommend
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mikaela
- 05-31-24
Powerful
Simpler than I expected it to be. I was interested to a whole picture of the topic and really only got a small piece of a puzzle. A valuable classic and I’m glad I read it, just not as satisfying as I expected.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-11-18
10:22 p.m., 10th of January, 2018
Timely and timeless. As Henry David explained, as Mahatima Ghandi adopted and proved out, as Reverend King brought it home: all who persist, will prevail! As we must do now too against considerable odds against our complacent, overindulged consumptive stupor and act too restore our democracy for ourselves and for our children - or not at all, forever.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Larry Bassett
- 08-05-16
Can the thoughts of 1849 be applied in the 21st-century?
Henry David Thoreau gave us a lot to think about how we ought to organize our lives. You can listen to this audible book in about an hour. It is one of the most quoted essays by the war tax resistance movement.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Customer
- 01-05-20
Very fine representation of a classic
Philosophical essay read with accurate reserved detail and necessary factual summation of the author and his stances on the justice of societal morality and how it developed in relation to the individual consequence
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Heinsight Solutions
- 10-04-17
monotone
this was read as tho it was required speaking to a class room full of scollors that already knew the text. No inflection or passion expressed. The words were inspiring but the speaker bored me to distraction.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jack Frasier
- 05-12-19
excellent short essay
I love how audible has individual, short essays by Thoreau and others available for quick powerful reads.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Bruce
- 07-28-21
interesting and applicable to our time.
The old English of Mass, aside very well spoken. No Surprise He is one of our most revered American wright's
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-25-23
Short, a couple solid ideas, impractical though
Some interesting takes. Don’t know a ton about him though. Likely would have to read Walden to understand more. I think his ideas are noble, but not practical unless we live in some sort of crypto utopia lol. Unless we have a way to trust each other I don’t see how it’d work. But there’s a lot of good things to take away, namely the notion of civil disobedience and peacefully protesting the government. Ideally making a government that was more aware of its place in society, namely subservient to the people, dominant over the people.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- George
- 09-05-21
Great listen
The goverment sucks and fuck taxes lmao author does a great job and the essay is an interesting and well written piece.
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