“A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule.”

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

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.

However 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.

Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.

Since the state must necessarily provide subsistence for the criminal poor while undergoing punishment, not to do the same for the poor who have not offended is to give a premium on crime.

No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.

Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economizing. The increase in the value of land, arising as it does from the efforts of an entire community, should belong to the community and not to the individual who might hold title.

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.

Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected can never experience.

All that makes existence valuable to any one depends on the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of other people.

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.

Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption.

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

All attempts by the State to bias the conclusions of its citizens on disputed subjects, are evil.

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

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.

Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your convictions.

He will only plant that seed where the conviction of his spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy.

You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated.

Rage is caused by a conviction, almost comic in its optimistic origins (however tragic in its effects), that a given frustration has not been written into the contract of life.

Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.

I am a Muslim Arab, in my actions oriented very to the left, in my convictions.

It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions.

You can trust the Bible. You will never be a great Christian until you come to the unshakable conviction that the Bible is the Word of God.