John Stuart Mill Quotes

Perhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity and sameness that harass the individual most.

Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.

A truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what they value.

I don't think my position unusual for a woman. I'm following a perfectly natural urge to do what I like.

Abuse of power isn't limited to 'bad guys' in other nations. It happens in our own country. Those in power get jaded, deluded, and seduced by power itself. I have a reverence for individuality. I've always considered myself too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing. I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. People should be able to be what they want to be and do what they want - as long as they're not harming other people. I am a libertarian.

The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.

Each man must have his I; it is more necessary to him than bread.

What I have always loved most in men is imperfection.

We can all live under the Constitution and all express ourself in radically different ways and not control each other.

I look upon an increase in the power of the State with the greatest fear because, although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality which lies at the heart of all progress.

I would not have any one adopt my mode of living on any account.

I feel the one sensible thing you can do is try to live in a way that pleases you. If you don't hurt anybody else, what you do is your own business.

I go where I'm stimulated. If I'm stimulated, I show up. As Mick Jagger sings: It's my life and I'll do what I want.

Democracy is a small hard core of common agreement, surrounded by a rich variety of individual differences.

The true test of one's commitment to liberty and private property rights doesn't come when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we agree. The true test comes when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we disagree.

There never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.

Ought not every woman, like every man, to follow the bent of her own talents?

There's good stuff and bad stuff, but you continue on. I'm not prescriptive - I cannot tell anyone else what to do with their lives, and I'm a deeply flawed individual - but this is it. We're all just living it and... bless us all.

He may be a malevolent sorcerer, but Tiny Cooper is his own goddamned man, and if he wants to be a gigantic skipper, then that's his right as a huge American.

Self respect is impossible without liberty.

Our people should feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas or simply be different.

A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an easy-goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.

The only distinction that democracies reward is a high degree of conformity.

I refuse to follow the rules where society tries to control people with low self esteem.

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.