term-, termin-

Henry Thoreau in his Walden wrote about an old fence: "I sacrificed it to Vulcan, for it was past serving the god Terminus."

Waldon is the title of a book written in 1854 by Henry David Thoreau describing his two years of life alone at Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

He recounts his daily life in the woods and celebrates nature and the individual's ability to live independently of society. A famous line from the book is Thoreau's statement that: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

A few of Thoreau's views about purpose of governments

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.

Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.

The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.

There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.