John Stuart Mill Quotes

There are those who believe that power is up above, and they don't notice that it's actually in the hearts of the great masses.

No usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.

I've found that any time you go against the people's voice you're going up against a tsunami that will have unbelievable power and implications.

I really feel that political will is born out of popular will.

The power of protest depends not only on how many turn out, but also on what legislative, judicial, and civil society institutions exist to enact the will of those marching in the streets.

With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.

I am the people — the mob — the crowd — the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?

Many women feel that they are so unimportant that their action can count little for good or ill, but it is the mass of individuals that makes up public opinion and public opinion is what runs a democracy!

You know the voice of the people is a very, very powerful tool.

Up to now, America has not been a good milieu for the rise of a mass movement. What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corporation.

The power of the people and the power of reason are one.

Party action should follow, not precede the creation of a dominant popular sentiment.

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

Some people have much more pull than other people. But when I say that the public has ultimate responsibility, I'm not saying it in a moral sense. I'm just saying it in the sense of what is it that's really going to bring change.

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also; in theory only, at first, while the spirit of the people is up, but in practice, as fast as that relaxes. Independence can be trusted nowhere but with the people in mass.

The masses are our masters; and for every one who looks facts in the face his existence has become dependent on them, so that the thought of them must control his doings, his cares, and his duties.

Our supreme governors, the mob.

Fear of the consequences of the masses’ indignation often induces the class holding parliamentary power to make concessions which the masses would not otherwise have obtained

Politics is about power, and it is about group power.

Towering over Presidents and State Governors, over Congress and State Legislatures, over conventions and the vast machinery of party, public opinion stands out in the United States, as the great source of Power.

Democracy is about aggregating the collective power of citizens to speak in their behalf.

... a distrust of the popular will as a safe regulator of political power.

We are afraid to trust ourselves, and pretend that we are afraid to trust the people. My hopes have rested and always will rest upon the people …. The people will rise in their majesty, and the world will be interested in the spectacle.