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About this quote

What does it mean?
A country's fate depends not on voting but on the character of the people who act daily in the streets.
In plain terms
A nation's future rests on daily actions of its citizens, not just votes.
What can you take from it?
Cultivate good character in everyday life.

Where it applies

  • community service
  • public discourse

Putting it to work

  • model ethical behavior
  • engage in local initiatives

Questions to consider

  • How can daily actions shape national outcomes?

Another view

Voting still influences policy direction.

More from Henry David Thoreau

  1. The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.

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  3. Talk of mysteries! - Think of our life in nature, - daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, - rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! …

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