There is one plain rule of life. Try thyself unweariedly till thou findest the highest thing thou art capable of doing, faculties and outward circumstances being both duly considered, and then do it.
JOHN STUART MILLHowever unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that, however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.
More John Stuart Mill Quotes
-
-
With equality of experience and of general faculties, a woman usually sees much more than a man of what is immediately before her.
JOHN STUART MILL -
To mistake money for wealth, is the same sort of error as to mistake the highway which may be the easiest way of getting to your house or lands, for the house and lands themselves.
JOHN STUART MILL -
I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gentleman will question it.
JOHN STUART MILL -
The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Human beings are no longer born to their place in life…but are free to employ their faculties and such favorable chances as offer, to achieve the lot which may appear to them as desirable.
JOHN STUART MILL -
All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
JOHN STUART MILL -
A democratic constitution, not supported by democratic institutions in detail, but confined to the central government, not only is not political freedom, but often creates a spirit precisely the reverse, carrying down to the lowest grade in society the desire and ambition of political domination.
JOHN STUART MILL -
The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself.
JOHN STUART MILL -
All that makes existence valuable to any one depends on the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of other people.
JOHN STUART MILL -
To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors.
JOHN STUART MILL -
Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.
JOHN STUART MILL -
The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power.
JOHN STUART MILL -
The struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar; particularly in that of Greece, Rome, and England
JOHN STUART MILL