John Stuart Mill Quotes

Quotes about:

• Truth emerges from the clash of adverse ideas.

  John Stuart Mill

  Ideas, Clash, Adverse

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  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

  Life, Evil, Accountability

  John Stuart Mill, G. W. Smith (1998). “John Stuart Mill's Social and Political Thought: Freedom”, p.110, Taylor & Francis

  136 Copy quote

• So Long as we do not harm others we should be free to think, speak, act, & live as we see fit, without molestation from individuals, law, or gov't.

  John Stuart Mill

  Thinking, Law, Long

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  Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

  John Stuart Mill

  Stupid, People, Conservative

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  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.

  John Stuart Mill

  War, Power, Libertarian Party

  On Liberty ch. 1 (1859)

  159 Copy quote

• The human faculties of perception, judgment, discriminative feeling, mental activity, and even moral preference, are exercised only in making a choice. He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice.

  John Stuart Mill

  Choices, Feelings, Perception

  John Stuart Mill (1989). “J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings”, p.59, Cambridge University Press

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• There is always hope when people are forced to listen to both sides.

  John Stuart Mill

  Inspirational, People, Listening

  John Stuart Mill (1864). “On Liberty”, p.94

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• In the long-run, the best proof of a good character is good actions.

  John Stuart Mill

  Running, Character, Long

  John Stuart Mill (1870). “Utilitarianism”, p.30

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• Liberty lies in the rights of that person whose views you find most odious.

  John Stuart Mill

  Philosophy, Lying, Rights

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  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.

  John Stuart Mill

  Freedom, Philosophy, Differences

  On Liberty ch. 2 (1859)

  157 Copy quote

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

  John Stuart Mill

  Inspirational, Happiness, Being Happy

  "The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health". "The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health", Vol. LXXXV, p. 170, September, 1887.

  81 Copy quote

• 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.

  John Stuart Mill

  Military, War, Patriotic

  "The Contest in America", Fraser's Magazine, February 1862.

  136 Copy quote

• The moral influence of woman over man is almost always salutary.

  John Stuart Mill

  Men, Morality, Moral

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• There is an imaginary circle drawn around every human being, over which no government should be able to step.

  John Stuart Mill

  Government, Circles, Able

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• How can great minds be produced in a country where the test of great minds is agreeing in the opinion of small minds?

  John Stuart Mill

  Country, Greatness, Mind

  71 Copy quote

• A man 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.

  John Stuart Mill

  Freedom, War, Military

  89 Copy quote

• The love of power and the love of liberty are in eternal antagonism.

  John Stuart Mill

  Liberty, Authority, Antagonism

  John Stuart Mill, Harriet Taylor Mill (1970). “Essays on Sex Equality”, p.238, University of Chicago Press

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• The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.

  John Stuart Mill

  Spiritual, Freedom, Health

  John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Troyer (2003). “The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill”, p.160, Hackett Publishing

  150 Copy quote

• The perpetual obstacle to human advancement is custom.

  John Stuart Mill

  Progress, Overcoming, Advancement

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

  John Stuart Mill

  Men, Majority, Inability

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• In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race.

  John Stuart Mill

  Inspirational, Men, Thinking

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

  John Stuart Mill

  Education, Children, Teaching

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• A cultivated mind is one to which the fountains of knowledge have been opened, and which has been taught, in any tolerable degree, to exercise its faculties.

  John Stuart Mill

  Exercise, Mind, Taught

  John Stuart Mill (1870). “Utilitarianism”, p.20

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• There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home.

  John Stuart Mill

  Truth, Home, Experience

  John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Troyer (2003). “The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill”, p.183, Hackett Publishing

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

  John Stuart Mill

  Men, Good Man, Apathy

  "On Education" (1867)

  24 Copy quote

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