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.
Philosophers
John Stuart Mill
Born in London in 1806, John Stuart Mill was a 19th-century British philosopher, political economist, and Member of Parliament who deepened utilitarian philosophy qualitatively. He introduced qualitative distinctions among pleasures beyond Bentham's quantitative calculus, and in On Liberty formulated the harm principle to define the limits of individual freedom. A pioneer of women's suffrage in The Subjection of Women, he laid the modern foundations of liberal thought.
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John Stuart Mill's Other Quotes
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race ... those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it.
The legal subordination of one sex to another is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement.
A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.
Related Quotes
Man is by nature a political animal.
-- Aristotle
Unless philosophers rule as kings, or kings genuinely philosophize, there will be no end to troubles for states.
-- Plato
The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.
-- John Locke
The virtuous city resembles a sound and healthy body.
-- Farabi
The ruler of the virtuous city is one who unites wisdom and prophecy.
-- Farabi