John Stuart Mill

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied."

"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way."

"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."

"The person who can be only an easy optimist is a coward."

"He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that."

"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."

"The worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals composing it."

"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism."

"I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires."

"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."

"The principle should be to extend the suffrage very widely, to educate those who may be called upon to use it."

"The time is always right to do what is right."

"Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded."

"Everyone has a right to the pursuit of happiness."

"Protection therefore against the tyranny of magistrates is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling."

"The individual is not accountable for his own existence."

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things."

"Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers and physicians."

"Mankind ought to value itself the more in proportion as it uses its facilities to improve and beautify existence."

"The capacity for the nobler feelings is in most natures a very tender plant."

"Success in life depends not upon talent alone, but upon perseverance."

"Truth is the nursing mother of genuine virtue."

"The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, but the kind of man the country turns out."

"Such is the imperfection of our condition that scarcely any benefit can be derived without some evil attending it."

"An individual cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so."

"Use your time for the things that truly matter."

"The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement."

"Liberty consists in doing what one desires."

"The person who fights with monsters should beware that in doing so he does not become a monster himself."

"It is the function of the state to enforce and maintain equality of opportunity."