To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.
- Topic: Love, Society
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from John Stuart Mill
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.
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.
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.
There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life.
The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.
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How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace.
When you seek love with all your heart you shall find its echo in the universe.
We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.
Love is the only way to rescue humanity from all ills.
I define love thus: The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own.
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
And God said love your enemy and I obeyed him and loved myself.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.
No matter how outrageous a lie may be, it will be accepted if stated loudly enough and often enough.
Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man's mind.
Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government—lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.
If we are to achieve richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.
When whole races and peoples conspire to propagate gigantic mute lies in the interest of tyrannies and shams, why should we care anything about the trifling lies told by individuals?