"In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race."
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John Stuart Mill quotes (page 11 of 18)
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"The struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar; particularly in that of Greece, Rome, and England"
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"A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule."
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"So Long as we do not harm others we should be free to think, speak, act, & live as we see fit, without molestation from individuals, law, or gov't."
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"The study of science teaches young men to think, while study of the classics teaches them to express thought."
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"The perpetual obstacle to human advancement is custom."
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"A great statesman is he who knows when to depart from traditions, as well as when to adhere to them."
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"I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gentleman will question it."
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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. . . ."
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"Over one's mind and over one's body the individual is sovereign."
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"All errors which a man is likely to commit against advice are far outweighed by the evil of allowing others to constrain him for his good."
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"The principles which men profess on any controverted subject are usually a very incomplete exponent of the opinions they really hold."
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"When the people are too much attached to savage independence, to be tolerant of the amount of power to which it is for their good that they should be subject, the state of society is not yet ripe for representative government."
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"Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians."
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"Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth."
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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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"The philosophy of reasoning, to be complete, ought to comprise the theory of bad as well as of good reasoning."
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"Every one is degraded, whether aware of it or not, when other people, without consulting him, take upon themselves unlimited power to regulate his destiny."
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"if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility."
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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 it ought not to meddle, it practices 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."
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