Opinion Quotes by John Stuart Mill

We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure,…

— John Stuart Mill

We have a right, also, in various ways, to act upon our unfavorable opinion of anyone, not to the oppression of his…

— John Stuart Mill

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

— John Stuart Mill

So long as an opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses in stability by having a preponderating…

— John Stuart Mill

Complete liberty of contradicting and disproving our opinion, is the very condition which justifies us in assuming its truth for purposes of…

— John Stuart Mill

It is as certain that many opinions, now general, will be rejected by future ages, as it is that many, once general,…

— John Stuart Mill

The principles which men profess on any controverted subject are usually a very incomplete exponent of the opinions they really hold.

— John Stuart Mill

if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is…

— John Stuart Mill

In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely…

— John Stuart Mill

Stupidity is much the same all the world over. A stupid person's notions and feelings may confidently be inferred from those which…

— John Stuart Mill

Every opinion which embodies somewhat of the portion of truth which the common opinion omits, ought to be considered precious, with whatever…

— John Stuart Mill

He who knows only his own side of the case (argument) knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no…

— John Stuart Mill

Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to…

— John Stuart Mill

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he,…

— John Stuart Mill

On religion in particular, the time appears to me to have come, when it is a duty of all who, being qualified…

— John Stuart Mill

It is useful while mankind is imperfect that there should be different opinions, so that there should be different experiments of living,…

— John Stuart Mill

Not only the grounds of the opinion are forgotten in the absence of discussion, but too often the meaning of the opinion…

— John Stuart Mill

Experience has taught me that those who give their time to the absorbing claims of what is called society, not having leisure…

— John Stuart Mill

We have hitherto considered only two possibilities: that the received opinion may be false, and some other opinion, consequently, true; or that,…

— John Stuart Mill

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as…

— John Stuart Mill

There is one characteristic of the present direction of public opinion, peculiarly calculated to make it intolerant of any marked demonstration of…

— John Stuart Mill

“If there are any persons who contest a received opinion, or who will do so if law or opinion will let them,…

— John Stuart Mill

In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely…

— John Stuart Mill

the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing…

— John Stuart Mill

A person's taste is as much his own peculiar concern as his opinion or his purse.

— John Stuart Mill

There is never any fair and thorough discussion of heretical opinions... The greatest harm done is to those who are not heretics,…

— John Stuart Mill

Even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is,…

— John Stuart Mill

The bad workmen who form the majority of the operatives in many branches of industry are decidedly of opinion that bad workmen…

— John Stuart Mill

However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to…

— 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…

— John Stuart Mill

Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and…

— John Stuart Mill

“No one but a fool, and only a fool of a peculiar description, feels offended by the acknowledgment that there are others…

— John Stuart Mill

In the human mind, one-sidedness has always been the rule, and many-sidedness the exception. Hence, even in revolutions of opinion, one part…

— John Stuart Mill

Among a people without fellow-feeling, especially if they read and speak different languages, the united public opinion, necessary to the working of…

— John Stuart Mill

I had learnt from experience that many false opinions may be exchanged for true ones, without in the least altering the habits…

— John Stuart Mill

The real advantage which truth has, consists in this, that when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or…

— 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…

— 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…

— John Stuart Mill

Since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision…

— John Stuart Mill

There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it…

— John Stuart Mill