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.
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.
- Topic: Choice
More Quotes from John Stuart Mill
The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.
There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life.
Actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness, wrong as the produce the reverse.
I am not aware that any community has a right to force another to be civilized.
To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.
More on Choice
You and only you are responsible for your life choices and decisions.
We are free up to the point of choice, then the choice controls the chooser.
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or good or joy worth having.
Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything—good or bad—that happens in their lives.
Pain is certain, suffering is optional.
Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.
Impossible is just an opinion.
It is your decisions, and not your conditions, that determine your destiny.
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.