Literature's Beginnings [Excerpt] of "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau

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 amount 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 the 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 only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.
This American government -- what is it but a tradition, through a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves. But it is not the less necessary for this; for the people must have some complicated machinery or other, and hear its din, to satisfy that idea of government which they have. Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage.
[This excerpt and another I'll post later are examples of how, in literature, the beginning of a text is the most well known. Here, Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" may not be well known, as of the book's entirety, but more from the over-use of these two phrases: "That government is best which governs least" and "That government is best which governs not at all." However, not only was Thoreau quoting Thomas Paine and/or Thomas Jefferson, but due to being taken out of context, many believe that Thoreau was against government all together. This is not the case, Thoreau was actually asking for a better government, even then in 1848 (when he wrote the piece), due to many instances that was happening during the time; one of which is still prevalent today, an overly blinded patriotic following, that gives too much power and control to the government. Though the Third Reich (the fascist ) happen well after Thoreau, it is still a clear and scary example of what happens when the people of a government become too patriotic.]