John Stuart Mill Quotes

Of two pleasures, if there be one which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided...

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as...

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

To think that because those who wield power in society wield in the end that of government, therefor...

No one but a fool, and only a fool of a peculiar description, feels offended by the acknowledgment t...

It is an adherent condition of human affairs that no intention, however sincere, of protecting the i...

It also appears to me that when prejudices persist obstinately, it is the fault of nobody so much as...

It is true that a great statesman is he who knows when to depart from traditions, as well as when to...

The test of real and vigorous thinking, the thinking which ascertains truths instead of dreaming dre...

I have a hundred times heard him say, that all ages and nations have represented their gods as wicke...

Foresight of phenomenon and power over them depend on knowledge of their sequences, and not upon any...

I will call no being good who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creatures; a...

The assumption that we are infallible can we justify the suppression of opinions we think false. Age...

All students of man and society who possess that first requisite for so difficult a study, a due sen...

Whenever the nature of the subject permits the reasoning process to be without danger carried on mec...

Pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends.

As for charity, it is a matter in which the immediate effect on the persons directly concerned, and ...

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interest...

All social inequalities which have ceased to be considered expedient, assume the character not of si...

Ask yourself whether you are happy and you will cease to be so.

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized communit...

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way so long as...

Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed f...

One person with a belief is worth 99 people who have only interests.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives... I never meant ...

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires rather than in attempting to satisfy the...

The best state for human nature is that in which, while no one is poor, no one desires to be richer,...

He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice.

The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or be...

That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes -- the legal ...

The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, men...

Unquestionably, it is possible to do without happiness; it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentie...

Such is the facility with which mankind believe at one and the same time things inconsistent with on...

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.

The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited he must not make himself a nuisance to other...

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any hu...

The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than hi...

He who let's the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of an...

The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power amon...

The idea that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of those pleasant falsehoods, which most...

Have intercourse with females, acquire wealth.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own...

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long a...

Language is the light of the mind.

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy the...

The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding un...

The worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals composing it.

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it profes...

So much barbarism, however, still remains in the transactions of most civilized nations, that almost...

It is not good for man to be kept perforce at all times in the presence of his species. A world from...

There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has bro...

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and pat...

Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole t...

religion, the most powerful of the elements which have entered into the formation of moral feeling, ...

.all the moralities tell them that it is the duty of women, and all the current sentimentalities tha...

What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their inability to act according to their bel...

The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns...

The duty of man is the same in respect to his own nature as in respect to the nature of all other th...

The dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of the pleasant falsehoods which men r...

The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited, he must not make himself a nuisance to other...

Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character had abounded; and the amount o...

The intensest feeling of the beauty of a cloud lighted by the setting sun, is no hindrance to my kno...

All women are brought up from the very earliest years in the belief that their ideal of character is...

Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected ...

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that o...

I believe in spectacles, but I think eyes necessary too.

Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness wrong as they tend to produce the ...

Men do not want solely the obedience of women, they want their sentiments. -The Subjection of Women

The despotism of custom is everywhere standing up to human advancement.

Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their i...

We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavouring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we we...

It still remains unrecognised, that to bring a child into existence without a fair prospect of being...

It is not because men’s desires are strong that they act ill; it is because their consciences are we...

[People] ask themselves, what is suitable for my position? What is usually done by persons of my sta...

He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any...

Unfortunately for the good sense of mankind, the fact of their fallibility is far from carrying the ...

No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follo...

In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is its...

The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long a...

Judgment is given to men that they may use it. Because it may be used erroneously, are men to be tol...

The greater part of the world has, properly speaking, no history, because the despotism of Custom is...

Whoever fails in the consideration generally due to the interests and feelings of others, not being ...

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he...

If there are any persons who contest a received opinion,or who will do so if law or opinion will let...

There are no means of finding what either one person or many can do, but by trying - and no means by...

How will the remaining portion of the community like to have the amusements that shall be permitted ...

Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, ...

Christian morality (so called) has all the characters of a reaction; it is, in great part, a protest...

Both teachers and learners go to sleep at their post as soon as there is no enemy in the field.

Even despotism does not produce its worst effects, so long as individuality exists under it; and wha...

But these few are the salt of the earth; without them, human life would become a stagnant pool. Not ...

Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or ...

A person whose desires and impulses are his own—are the expression of his own nature, as it has been...

The will of the people, moreover, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active...

No longer enslaved or made dependent by force of law, the great majority are so by force of poverty;...

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and pat...

Since the state must necessarily provide subsistence for the criminal poor while undergoing punishme...

The form of association, however, which if mankind continue to improve, must be expected in the end ...

Experience has taught me that those who give their time to the absorbing claims of what is called so...

Stupidity is much the same all the world over. A stupid person's notions and feelings may confidentl...

Human beings are no longer born to their place in life, and chained down by an inexorable bond to th...