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| John Stuart Mill
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life. All good things which exist are the fruits of originality. As for charity, it is a matter in which the immediate effect on the persons directly concerned, and the ultimate consequence to the general good, are apt to be at complete war with one another. Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so. Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character had abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and courage which it contained. Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit. I am not aware that any community has a right to force another to be civilized. I have learnt to seek my happiness in limiting my desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them. In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected can never experience. Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house. Men do not desire to be rich, but to be richer than other men. No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead. One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests. Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of our time. That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next. The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time. The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make himself a nuisance to other people. The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. The pupil who is never required to do what he cannot do, never does what he can do. There are many truths the full meaning of which cannot be recognised until personal experience has brought it home. They who know how to employ opportunities will often find that they can create them; and what we can achieve depends less on the amount of time we possess than on the use we make of our time. We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. We have a right, also, in various ways, to act upon our unfavorable opinion of anyone, not to the oppression of his individuality, but in the exercise of ours. |
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