John Stuart Mill Quotes

253 quotes in 2870 categories

• All action is for the sake of some end; and rules of action, it seems natural to suppose, must take their whole character and color… Action
• All desirable things... are desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as a means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of… All
• Of two pleasures, if there be one which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of any feeling… All
• The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of its… Abstruse
• 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. Change
• Over one's mind and over one's body the individual is sovereign. Body
• There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when what were once truths are true no longer, but… Always Need
• Christian morality (so called) has all the characters of a reaction; it is, in great part, a protest against Paganism. Its ideal is negative rather… Abstinence
• It is part of the irony of life that the strongest feelings of devoted gratitude of which human nature seems to be susceptible, are called… Beings
• Stupidity is much the same all the world over All
• The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation;… Benefit
• A state which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes--will find that with… Accomplished
• But these few are the salt of the earth; without them, human life would become a stagnant pool. Not only is it they who introduce… Already Existed
• The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of all to make their dissent from religion known. Agnostic
• 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… Any
• It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the… Better
• The strongest of all arguments against the interference of the public with purely personal conduct, is that when it does interfere, the odds are that… All
• if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our… Any
• It's hardly possible to overstate the value, in the present state of human improvement, of placing human beings in contact with other persons dissimilar to… Action
• Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption. Adoption

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