"I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." "I am grateful for what I am & have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contended one can be with nothing definite - only a sense of existence." Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American essayist, who was born today. Poet, and practical philosopher, best-known for his autobiographical story of life in the woods, WALDEN (1854).