JohnStuart Mill
The will of the people, moreover, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority; the people, consequently may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this as against any other abuse of power.
on liberty chapter 1
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Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough: there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and, if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compels all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own.
on liberty chapter 1
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Wherever there is an ascendant class, a large portion of the morality of the country emanates from its class interests, and its feelings of class superiority.
on liberty chapter 1
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The great writers to who the world owes what religious liberty it possess, have mostly asserted freedom of conscience as an indefeasible right, and denied absolutely that a human being is accountable to others for his religious belief. Yet so natural to mankind is intolerance in whatever they really care about, that religious freedom has hardly anywhere been practically realised, except where religious indifference, which dislikes to have its peace disturbed by theological quarrels, has added its weight to the scale.
on liberty chapter 1
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This, then, is the appropriate religion of human liberty. It comprises, first, the inward domain of consciousness; demanding liberty of conscience in the most comprehensive sense; liberty of thought and feeling; absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral, or theological. The liberty of expressing and publishing opinions may seem to fall under a different principle, since it belongs to that part of the conduct of an individual which concerns other people; but, being almost of as much importance as the liberty of thought itself, and resting in great part on the same reasons, is practically inseparable from it.
on liberty chapter 1
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The disposition of mankind, whether as rulers or as fellow-citizens, to impose, their own opinions and inclinations as a rule of conduct on others, is so energetically supported by some of the best and by some of the worst feelings incident to human nature, that it is hardly ever kept under restraint by anything but want of power.
on liberty chapter 1
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If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be nor more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
on liberty chapter 2
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But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.
on liberty chapter 2
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To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
on liberty chapter 2
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There is the greatest difference between presuming an opinion to be true, because, with every opportunity for contesting it, it has not been refuted, and assuming its truth for the purpose of not permitting its refutation.
on liberty chapter 2
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But, indeed, the dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.
on liberty chapter 2
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The real advantage which truth has consists in this, that when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found persons to rediscover it, until some one of its reappearances falls on a time when from favourable circumstances it escapes persecution until it has made such head as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress it.
on liberty chapter 2
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But though we do not now inflict so much evil o n those who think differently from us as it was formerly our custom to do, it may be that we do ourselves as much evil as ever by our treatment of them.
on liberty chapter 2
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No one can be a great thinker who does not recognise, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.
on liberty chapter 2
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Where there is a tacit convention that principles are not to be disputed; where the discussion of the greatest questions which can occupy humanity is considered to be closed, we cannot hope to find that generally high scale of mental activity which has made some periods of history so remarkable. Never when controversy avoided the subjects which are large and important enough to kindle enthusiasm, was the mind of a people stirred up from its foundations, and the impulse given which raised even persons of the most ordinary intellect to something of the dignity of thinking beings.
on liberty chapter 2
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The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful, is the cause of half their errors.
on liberty chapter 2
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[I]t is fit to take some notice of those who say that the free expression of all opinions should be permitted, on condition that the manner be temperate, and do not pass the bounds of fair discussion. Much might be said on the impossibility of fixing where these supposed bounds are to be placed.
on liberty chapter 2
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That mankind are not infallible; that their truths, for the most part, are only half-truths; that unity of opinion, unless resulting from the fullest and freest comparison of opposite opinions, is not desirable, and diversity not an evil, but a good, until mankind are much more capable than at present of recognising all sides of the truth, are principles applicable to men’s modes of action, not less than to their opinions
on liberty chapter 3
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It is not because men’s desires are strong that they act ill; it is because their consciences are weak.
on liberty chapter 3
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Energy may be turned to bad uses; but more good may always be made of an energetic nature, than of an indolent and impassive one.
on liberty chapter 3
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In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable of being more valuable to others.
on liberty chapter 3
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The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at something better than customary, which is called, according to circumstances, the spirit of liberty, or that of progress or improvement.
on liberty chapter 3
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A people, it appears, may be progressive for a certain length of time, and then stop: when does it stop? When it ceases to possess individuality.
on liberty chapter 3
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Human beings owe to each other help to distinguish the better from the worse, and encouragement to choose the former and avoid the later. They should be for ever stimulating each other to increased exercise of their higher faculties, and increased direction of their feelings and aims towards wise instead of foolish, elevating instead of degrading, objects and contemplations.
on liberty chapter 4
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