In his own day, Henry David Thoreau was not a highly influential personality, more a minor irritation to the Establishment with his views that were regarded as akin to advocating anarchy and his anti-slavery sentiments. He was one of the first to put forward the concept of civil disobedience as a way to counter bad government, which was later adopted with notable success by Gandhi and others. But he was also a poet, environmentalist, teacher, philosopher and essayist.

Today he is recognised as a great thinker, well ahead of his time. His writings contain a great deal of wisdom and idealism. In this book, you will find many quotations to provoke thought and discussion and raise questions that are very relevant to our own day.