John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Millwas an English philosopher, political economist, feminist, and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory and political economy. He has been called "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century." Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth20 May 1806
crush struggle thinking
I confess that I am not charmed with the ideal of life held out by those who think that the normal state of human beings is that of struggling to get on; that the trampling, crushing, elbowing, and treading on each other's heels, which form the existing type of social life, are the most desirable lot of human beings
law events depends
It is a law, that every event depends on the same law.
veins half systematic
Almost all rich veins of original and striking speculation have been opened by systematic half-thinkers.
teaching exercise men
Education makes a man a more intelligent shoemaker, if that be his occupation, but not by teaching him how to make shoes; it does so by the mental exercise it gives, and the habits it impresses.
effort desire human-nature
The best state for human nature is that in which, while no one is poor, no one desires to be richer, nor has any reason to fear from thrust back, by the efforts of others to push themselves forward.
philosophical perfection done
To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality
christian believe government
The United States is no more a Christian nation because most of its citizens are Christians than it is a 'white' nation because most of its citizens are white. We are Americans because we practice democracy and believe in republican government, not because we practice revealed religion and believe in Bible-based government.
feminism important zeal
The most important thing women have to do is to stir up the zeal of women themselves.
silence assumption absolute-certainty
All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
police humanity liberty
And it is not difficult to show, by abundant instances, that to extend the bounds of what may be called moral police, until it encroaches on the most unquestionably legitimate liberty of the individual, is one of the most universal of all human propensities.
science names progress
The application of algebra to geometry ... has immortalized the name of Descartes, and constitutes the greatest single step ever made in the progress of the exact sciences.
science men thinking
The study of science teaches young men to think, while study of the classics teaches them to express thought.
truth danger whole
... the besetting danger is not so much of embracing falsehood for truth, as of mistaking a part of the truth for the whole.
truth feelings littles
Even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in the manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its rational grounds