from thoreau's journals, june 16, 1854:

I do not believe that there is a judge in this country prepared to decide by the principle that a law is immoral and therefore of no force. They put themselves, or rather are by character, exactly on a level with the marine who discharges his musket in any direction in which he is ordered. They are just as much tools, and as little men.

from the same entry, later incorporated into the essay "slavery in massachusetts": "My thoughts are murder to the state."