Curtis White, "The spirit of disobedience: An invitation to resistance," Harper's, April 2006, p. 36
“

Thoreau's disobedience is disobedience as refusal. I won't live in your world. I will live as if your world has ended, as indeed it deserves to end. I will live as if my gesture of refusing your world has destroyed it.

— Curtis White on Henry David Thoreau

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Thoreau's disobedience is disobedience as refusal. I won't live in your world. I will live as if your world has ended, as indeed it deserves to end. I will live as if my gesture of refusing your world has destroyed it." in the context of "Curtis White, "The spirit of disobedience: An invitation to resistance," Harper's, April 2006, p. 36" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Henry David Thoreau" (Quotes about Thoreau) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Curtis White

About Curtis White

Curtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture.