John Stuart Mill Famous Quotes



"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."

"Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, is essential to any depth of meditation or of character and solitude in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur, is the cradle of thought and aspirations which are not only good for the individual, but which society could ill do without."

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

"The pupil who is never required to do what he cannot do, never does what he can do."

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

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

All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.

"That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of our time."

That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next.

Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

"Indeed the dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution, is one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into common places, but which all experience refutes."

One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant."

"A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury."


John Stuart Mill Quotations






More Famous Quotes


"Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire."
William Butler Yeats

What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.
Alanis Morissette

England and America are two countries separated by the same language.
George Bernard Shaw

Look well into thyself there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

"The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."
William Blake

To be feared is to fear no one has been able to strike terror into others and at the same time enjoy peace of mind.
Seneca

"When life is kicking others in the teeth, Become a dentist."
Kevin Meyers

"Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst. That the best things corrupted are the worst."
Sir John Denham

"Love and war are the same thing, and stratagems and policy are as allowable in the one as in the others"
Miguel Cerbantes

The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.
Lady Bird Johnson