If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary 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.
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…
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
I believe in spectacles, but I think eyes necessary too.
It is a bitter thought, how different a thing the Christianity of the world might have been, if the Christian faith had been adopted as the religion of the empire under the auspices of Marcus Aurelius instead of those of Constantine.
There are no means of finding what either one person or many can do, but by trying – and no means by which anyone else can discover for them what it is for their happiness to do or leave undone
Foresight of phenomenon and power over them depend on knowledge of their sequences, and not upon any notion we may have formed respecting their origin or inmost nature.
A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life.
Command and obedience are but unfortunate necessities of human life: society in equality is its normal state.
Men do not want solely the obedience of women, they want their sentiments. -The Subjection of Women
One person with a belief is worth 99 people who have only interests.
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.
The best state for human nature is that in which, while no one is poor, no one desires to be richer, nor has any reason to fear being thrust back, by the efforts of others to push themselves forward.
A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.
The test of real and vigorous thinking, the thinking which ascertains truths instead of dreaming dreams, is successful application to practice.
I will call no being good who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creatures; and if such a creature can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go .
No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.
It is true that a great statesman is he who knows when to depart from traditions, as well as when to adhere to them. But it is a great mistake to suppose that he will do this better for being ignorant of the traditions.
Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement.
The assumption that we are infallible can we justify the suppression of opinions we think false. Ages are as fallible as individuals, every age having held many opinions which subsequent ages have deemed not only false but absurd.
He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses his plan for himself, employs all his faculties.
The beliefs which we have the most warrant for have no safeguard, but a standing invitation to the whole world to prove them unfounded.
The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited, he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavouring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
He who let’s the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation
[T]he source of everything respectable in man either as an intellectual or as a moral being namely, that his errors are corrigible.
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 good things which did not before exist, it is they who keep the life in those which already existed.
Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow.
Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.
Both teachers and learners go to sleep at their post as soon as there is no enemy in the field.
No one but a fool, and only a fool of a peculiar description, feels offended by the acknowledgment that there are others whose opinion, and even whose wish, is entitled to a greater amount of consideration than his.
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavouring to stifle is a false opinion and if we were sure stifling it would be an evil still.
The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it.
I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires rather than in attempting to satisfy them.
His eminence was due to the flatness of the surrounding landscape.
He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice.
The despotism of custom is everywhere standing up to human advancement.
Unquestionably it is possible to do without happiness it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind.
Ask yourself whether you are happy and you will cease to be so.
Unquestionably it is possible to do without happiness it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind.
I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires rather than in attempting to satisfy them.
The worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals composing it.
The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.
The duty of man is the same in respect to his own nature as in respect to the nature of all other things, namely not to follow it but to amend it.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
As for charity, it is a matter in which the immediate effect on the persons directly concerned, and the ultimate consequence to the general good, are apt to be at complete war with one another.
Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character had abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and courage which it contained.
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.
Unquestionably, it is possible to do without happiness; it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind.
The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.
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.
The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power.
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.
The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home.
Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected can never experience.
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 of moral obligation to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasure.
The dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of the pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.
Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth.
The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.
What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their inability to act according to their beliefs.
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself.
Pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends.