In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race.
Actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness, wrong as the produce the reverse.
- Topic: Action, Happiness
- 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 individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.
To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.
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As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
What you are is what you have been. What you will be is what you do now.
The thought of only being a creature of the present and the past was troubling. I longed for a future, too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak.
Nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow.
Action expresses priorities.
Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.
The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.
Such sober certainty of walking bliss.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden.
The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.