John Stuart Mill

"Death is not the worst evil; a life lived in servitude is worse."

"The desire for money is not inherently corrupt; it is the excess that corrupts."

"Imagination is the first step toward all progress and all greatness."

"A nation's strength lies not in its weapons but in the minds of its people."

"Prejudice cannot be reasoned away; it must be overcome through experience."

"The habit of analysis weakens the capacity for enjoyment; be cautious with it."

"Hope is not optimism; it is the willingness to act despite uncertainty."

"The pursuit of truth is the highest calling of an educated person."

"Self-respect is earned through the consistent practice of virtue."

"Music is the language of emotion; what words cannot express, music reveals."

"Progress without purpose is merely motion; it leads nowhere meaningful."

"The test of a true belief is whether we act upon it when it costs us something."

"Society improves only when its exceptional members are allowed to flourish."

"Patience is not passivity; it is strength held in reserve."

"Beauty is not in the object alone, but in the mind that perceives it."

"Fear is the greatest prison; freedom begins when we overcome it."

"The only real freedom is freedom from the necessity of labour."

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to obtain the things necessary for living, but it is always a sign of a piddling mind to be always thinking what others think."

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it."

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

"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."

"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism."

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

"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."

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

"The habit of analysis has a tendency to wear away the feelings."

"Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric."

"I have learned that all brilliant people have depression."

"The greatest happiness principle may rightfully be described as the Greatest Felicity Principle."

"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."