Henry David Thoreau Quote 

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil
to one who is striking at the root."

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Source:
Walden (1854)
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Reader comments about this quote:
Why are we terrified at hacking at the roots (truth). As one wiseman said (more or less) "When honest men do nothing, evil prospers."
 -- John-Douglas, Nassau		 
Well, duhh! In a society obsessed with appearance the cosmetic is valued over the substantive every time. Ask Carl Rove.
 -- Terry Berg, Occidental, CA		 
Thoreau never, EVER fails to expound pure, effectively masterful truth!!!!!!!! This fact is as essential as the most basic mathematical law!!!!!!
 -- Odette		 
So let's start hacking at the root!
 -- E Archer, NYC		 
Thoreau as usual is correct.
 -- Elce, Chicago		 
I like it.
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
I like it.
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
Give me the thousand hacking at the branches and I'll show them the roots - yes Terry, Carl Rove is an expert at showing us the branches most of which he planted - its amazing, this government creates the roots and and gets the media to show us the brances.
 -- RobertSRQ		 
I'll use Mike's stars
 -- RobertSRQ		 
The question shifts then to "what is the root?"
 -- Greg, Chichester		 
The root is (I believe) a government that is in bed with corporations, a kleptocracy that threw us all overboard 30 years ago. Theft through inflation and taxation is keeping us all very much under control. But they put on a hell of a show don't they?
 -- J Carlton, Calgary		 
The root is an abstraction; the branch a concrete. It takes only eyes to see the concrete but an active mind to trace the concrete to the root - that is why so few are working on the root! To get at the root takes more work of a certain kind, abstract thought.
 -- Peter, Port Huron		 
Many that hack at branches do so to look busy and to fool the masses that evil is being attacked. They also will attack those that hack at the roots.
 -- warren, olathe		 
Very well put Warren.
 -- J Carlton, Calgary		 
Warren, right on!
 -- Robert Edwards		 
The question raised is "What is the root?" I submit it is 'sincerity' where one taps into his deepest sense. Do we not know that truth is better than scheming? That justice is better than advantage? Principle is better than selling out? Openness (corrigibility) is better than dogmatism? Systematic better than arbitrary? Character than status? Survival than surrender? Resistance than appeasement? Good than evil? Deep down, each of us know what ought to be for himself. From the root springs the fruit.
 -- Allen Weingarten, Monroe Township, NJ		 
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