In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race.
The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.
- Topic: Accountability, Self
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from John Stuart Mill
He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation.
I am not aware that any community has a right to force another to be civilized.
The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.
Actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness, wrong as the produce the reverse.
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Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.
To a greater force, and to a better nature, you, free, are subject, and that creates the mind in you, which the heavens have not in their charge. Therefore if the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.
The two qualities that chiefly inspire regard and affection [are] that a thing is you own and that it is your only one.
You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence.
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself—and be lenient to everybody else.
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
Without properly kept accounts it is impossible to maintain truth in its pristine purity.
The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands.
The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.
At the center of your being you are the answer. You know who you are, and you know what you want.
If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your own integrity. If you need a witness, be your own.
If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.
If you cannot be honest with yourself, there is no hope of being honest with anyone else.