The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
JOHN STUART MILLA man and still more the woman, who can be accused either of doing “what nobody does,” or of not doing “what everybody does,” is the subject of as much depreciatory remark as if he or she had committed some grave moral delinquency.
More John Stuart Mill Quotes
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The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Next to selfishness the principal cause which makes life unsatisfactory is want of mental cultivation.
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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?
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A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule.
JOHN STUART MILL -
The idea that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of those pleasant falsehoods, which most experience refutes. History is teeming with instances of truth put down by persecution. If not put down forever, it may be set back for centuries.
JOHN STUART MILL -
There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home.
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It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.
JOHN STUART MILL -
All ideas need to be heard, because each idea contains one aspect of the truth. By examining that aspect, we add to our own idea of the truth. Even ideas that have no truth in them whatsoever are useful because by disproving them, we add support to our own ideas.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness.
JOHN STUART MILL -
To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
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All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.
JOHN STUART MILL -
There is the greatest difference between presuming an opinion to be true, because, with every opportunity for contesting it, it has not been refuted, and assuming its truth for the purpose of not permitting its refutation.
JOHN STUART MILL






