Mill, John Stuart

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

"It is 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."

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

"The true doctrine is that all things are right in themselves, and wrong only by accident."

"Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so."

"There is a standard higher than the highest happiness of an individual—his character."

"The principle of private ethics teaches that everybody is to promote the happiness of everybody."

"To discover your object in life is the first and foremost of all duties."

"Those who know themselves to be profound strive less to be thought so."

"It is not enough to prevent the would-be tyrant. Education is essential."

"The time is come when the very foundations of our social order must be re-examined."

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

"The human heart yearns for something higher than itself."

"In this age of transition, everything nails down our attention on the effect of opinions upon society."

"Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves."

"The unchallenged ascendancy of the numerical majority is new in the world."

"The person who experiences little is not likely to have much capacity for the experiences of others."

"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."

"All good things which exist are the fruits of originality."

"The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius it has manifested."

"It is the fashion of the majority to live without any fixed principle."

"There is no reason that all human existence should be constructed on some one or some small number of patterns."

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community is to prevent harm to others."

"What really matters is that we learn from experience and improve our characters."

"The criterion of a progressive society is that each individual is treated as an end in himself."