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John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous John Stuart Mill Quotes

“Few human creatures would consent to be changed into any of the lower animals for a promise of the fullest allowance of a beast's pleasures; no intelligent human being would consent to be a fool, no instructed person would be an ignoramus, no person of feeling and conscience would be selfish and base, even though they should be persuaded that the fool, the dunce, or the rascal is better satisfied with his lot than they are with theirs.”

ShouldHumansPersonsFeelingsWould BeHuman BeingsPleasureAnimalChangedFoolPromiseCreaturesConscienceIntelligentSelfishSatisfiedBeastConsentAllowanceBeing SelfishRascalsDunces
Book:The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill
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“If it were only that people have diversities of taste, that is reason enough for not attempting to shape them all after one model. But different persons also require different conditions for their spiritual development, and can no more exist healthily in the same moral, than all the varieties of plants can in the same physical, atmosphere and climate.”

PeopleIfsPersonsDifferentReasonEnoughSpiritualMoralConditionsDevelopmentTasteShapesDiversityModelsPlantClimateVarietyAtmosphereAttemptingSpiritual Development
Book:The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill
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“He must be able to hear them [the counter arguments] from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form; he must feel the whole force of the difficulty which the true view of the subject has to encounter and dispose of; else he will never really possess himself of the portion of truth which meets and removes that difficulty.”

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Author:John Stuart Mill
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“In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to others. There is a greater fullness of life about his own existence, and when there is more life in the units there is more in the mass which is composed of them.”

PersonsIndividualExistenceGreaterDevelopmentMassIndividualityValuableProportionUnitsFullnessFullness Of Life
Book:On Liberty: Representative Government ; The Subjection of Women : Three Essays
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“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.”

IfsPersonsPhilosophyWould BeDifferencesFreedomOpinionMankindExpressionGeniusCivil RightsCensorshipFree SpeechFreedom Of SpeechJustifiedDissentFirst AmendmentFreedom And LibertyCivil LibertiesFreedom Of ExpressionMinusRights And FreedomsThat One PersonSilencingFreedom To ReadLiberty Of SpeechFirst Amendment Rights
Author:John Stuart Mill
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“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 themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar. Such communication has always been... one of the primary sources of progress.”

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Author:John Stuart Mill
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“In a world in which there is so much to interest, so much to enjoy, and so much also to correct and improve, everyone who has this moderate amount of moral and intellectual requisites is capable of an existence which may be called enviable; and unless such a person, through bad laws, or subjection to the will of others, is denied the liberty to use the sources of happiness within his reach, he will not fail to find the enviable existence”

WorldMayPersonsUseLawEnjoyInterestExistenceLibertyMoralFailingSourceAmountCapableIntellectualDeniedModeratesSubjectionSource Of HappinessUtilitarianismHappiness WithinBad Laws
Book:Utilitarianism
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“the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this; nor is it in the nature of human intellect to become wise in any other manner.”

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Book:On Liberty
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“A person whose desires and impulses are his own - are the expression of his own nature, as it has been developed and modified by his own culture - is said to have a character. One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam-engine has character.”

PersonsHas BeensSaidCharacterDesireCultureExpressionImpulseEnginesSteamSteam Engines
Book:On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays
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“Persons of genius are, ex vi termini, more individual than any other people - less capable, consequently, of fitting themselves, without hurtful compression, into any of the small number of moulds which society provides in order to save its members the trouble of forming their character.”

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Book:On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays
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“To think that because those who wield power in society wield in the end that of government, therefore it is of no use to attempt to influence the constitution of the government by acting on opinion, is to forget that opinion is itself one of the greatest active social forces. One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.”

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Book:Considerations on Representative Government
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“The doctrine called Philosophical Necessity is simply this: that, given the motives which are present to an individual's mind, and given likewise the character and disposition of the individual, the manner in which he will act might be unerringly inferred: that if we knew the person thoroughly, and knew all the inducements which are acting upon him, we could foretell his conduct with as much certainty as we can predict any physical event.”

IfsMindPersonsCharacterMightScienceIndividualGivenActingEventsPhilosophicalDoctrineCertaintyMotiveDisposition
Book:A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive: Mill's Works
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