Thoreau was a great writer, philosopher, poet, and withal a most practical man, that is, he taught nothing he was not prepared to practice in himself.
He was one of the greatest and most moral men America has produced.
At the time of the abolition of slavery movement, he wrote his famous essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.
He went to gaol for the sake of his principles and suffering humanity.
His essay has, therefore, been sanctified by suffering.
Moreover, it is written for all time.
Its incisive logic is unanswerable.
GANDHI, M. K. FOR PASSIVE RESISTERS, Indian Opinion, 26 October 1907.