122 quotes
Aim at something great; aim at things which are difficult; and there is no great thing which is not difficult.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse.
It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.
What is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing—the result of forced repression in some directions, unnatural stimulation in others.
The Subjection of Women (1869)
The utilitarian doctrine is, that happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end; all other things being only desirable as means to that end.
Utilitarianism (1861)
I regard utility as the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions; but it must be utility in the largest sense, grounded on the permanent interests of man as a progressive being.
On Liberty (1859)
If I had loved any one sufficiently to make confiding my griefs a necessity, I should not have been in the condition.
Autobiography (1873)
Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
A great statesman is he who knows when to depart from traditions, as well as when to adhere to them.
Considerations on Representative Government (1861)
It is not because men's desires are strong that they act ill; it is because their consciences are weak.
On Liberty (1859)
When society requires to be rebuilt, there is no use in attempting to rebuild it on the old plan.
Dissertations and Discussions (1859)
I am thus one of the very few examples, in this country, of one who has, not thrown off religious belief, but never had it...
Autobiography (1873)
We are not so absurd as to propose that the teacher should not set forth his own opinions as the true ones and exert his utmost powers to exhibit their truth in the strongest light.
The great writers to whom the world owes what religious liberty it possesses, have mostly asserted freedom of conscience as an indefeasible right, and denied absolutely that a human being is accountable to others for his religious belief.
On Liberty (1859)
Induction may be defined the operation of discovering and proving general propositions.
But society has now fairly got the better of individuality; and the danger which threatens human nature is not the excess, but the deficiency, of personal impulses and preferences.
On Liberty (1859)
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 a sufficient warrant.
On Liberty (1859)
Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.
On Liberty (1859)
Those only are happy … who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness.