“One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

1960s, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
Context: In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. 658
American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Ci… 1929–1968

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“If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Not attributed to Jefferson until the 21st century. May be a loose paraphrasing of a passage from Declaration of Independence (1776): "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Misattributed
Variant: When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.

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“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

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“May it please your honor, I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

On her $100 fine, as quoted in An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony on the Charge of Illegal Voting] (1874) The "old revolutionary maxim" Anthony uses here has been variously attributed to William Tyndale, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as to herself.
Variant: Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God; I shall never pay a penny of this unjust claim.
As quoted in Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World (1900) p. 415
Unsourced variants: Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God, and I shall never pay a penny of this unjust claim.
Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God, and I shall never pay a penny of this unjust fine.
Trial on the charge of illegal voting (1874)
Context: May it please your honor, I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty. All the stock in trade I possess is a $10,000 debt, incurred by publishing my paper — The Revolution — four years ago, the sole object of which was to educate all women to do precisely as I have done, rebel against your man-made, unjust, unconstitutional forms of law, that tax, fine, imprison and hang women, while they deny them the right of representation in the government; and I shall work on with might and main to pay every dollar of that honest debt, but not a penny shall go to this unjust claim. And I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim, that "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God."

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“An unjust law is no law at all.”

Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher

On Free Choice Of The Will, Book 1, § 5

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